Stowaway
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: Ian Malcolm's oldest child, Misty, stows away on the helicopter that will go to Jurassic Park, and he has no other option but to let her stay. Misty's entire point-of-view on dinosaurs will change when she fights for her own life and that of the Murphys. Being rewritten under the title of "Out of the Mist".
1. Chapter 1: Complications

Stowaway

Summary: Ian Malcolm's middle child, Misty, stows away on the helicopter that will go to Jurassic Park, and he has no other option but to let her stay. Is it hard being the middle child with no mother? Yes. Is it hard to survive with two other kids to watch over in the deadly Jurassic Park? Yes. But this is Misty's story.

English Adventure/Friendship Rated: T Chapters: Words:

Chapter 1:

Taking a Spin

**a/n: **Introduces Ian's middle child, Misty, who has a lot of trouble being the middle child, especially when she only occasionally has a mother. She stows away onto the helicopter with her father, and ends up going with him to the Jurassic Park. After making fast friends with Lex and Tim, Misty soon learns this park is dangerous…and it's up to her to guide them out of there. Leave an honest review.

She would not be left behind.

Fourteen-year-old Misty Malcolm shifted in the backseat, keeping her breathing as quiet as possible. Her father, Ian, was driving, and had no knowledge that she was curled up in the back, hidden amongst a moth-eaten blanket and other miscellaneous junk. Ian was a mathematician, not a maid (at least that's what he told his kids: Kelly, Misty, and Roger.) According to Kelly, Misty was up in her room, still fretting over the fact her father got to go to Jurassic Park and she didn't. No…Misty was finally stepping out of the shadows, and doing something. She was sneaking along with her father to go to Jurassic Park.

Misty was a dinosaur-freak; there was no denying it. She studied them, had books about them (including Dr. Grant's, whom she had a crush on), even started up a website about the newest dinosaur information. So, when Ian announced that he would be spending the weekend at Jurassic Park to check things out at dinner, Misty had been awestruck.

_"Dad, can I please come?" Misty begged, dropping her fork and clasping her hands together. Kelly rolled her eyes, and Roger kept drinking from his sippy-cup, unbothered by his older sister's desperateness. To see real dinosaurs up close seemed like a dream come true, and she didn't want to miss out on this opportunity._

_"Hold on there, I'll just be there for two days, then I'm coming right back home," Ian reminded her, taking a bite of the meatloaf they had eaten last night. Leftovers were a way of life for the Malcolm family. "Look Misty, you'd be bored to death. It'll just be a lot of adults, sitting around to sign papers, talk about safety measures, draw blueprints and stuff like that. I'm only there for the math. You hate math, remember?"_

_Misty knew he was right, but she also knew he was exaggerating slightly about how dull it would be. "But Dad-"_

_"I'm serious Misty," Ian warned, in a real "you-better-stop-talking-now-because-what-I-said-was-final" voice. "You can stay here with your brother and sister. I'll tell you all about how boring it was when I return." Just as Misty was about to say something else, he shot her a look that made her look down at her meatloaf._

Misty wasn't going to miss the chance of a lifetime. Sure, she'd be in a lot of trouble, but it wasn't like he could send her on the next helicopter home; she would be forced to stay there. The thought of being with dinosaurs made her so excited, she almost squealed and gave away her position. Reaching down silently to brush a lock of her long black hair out of her face, Misty stayed still as they drove towards the helicopter site.

_Erk! _With a rapid lurch and crunch of gravel, the car stopped, jerking Misty from a light sleep. Ian climbed out of the car, and Misty slipped out of the opposite backdoor, hiding behind the car, escaping just before he could lock the doors. A large, blue and white helicopter was parked in the distance, the blades turning rapidly to produce a column of dirt. Misty raced after Ian, and as he climbed into the body of the helicopter, Misty knocked on the pilot's window.

"Hey, what do you want kid?" the pilot, a middle-aged man with dark hair and a not-so-clean shave, asked. Misty hesitated: should she even ride in the front? Granted, she would keep her secret until they landed on the island, but what was she supposed to tell the pilot?

"I'm…Misty Malcolm, Ian Malcolm's daughter," she started uneasily, constantly glancing over her shoulder in case he saw her. "There wasn't enough room in the helicopter for me and the others, so he asked me to ride up front with you. You know, if that's okay." There was an empty co-pilot's seat next to pilot's.

To Misty's surprise, the pilot laughed. "Sure thing, climb in," he said, and Misty did just that, taking her seat next to him, looking at the various controllers on the dashboard. If dinosaurs were her strongpoint, technology was not; every single button and dial and switch befuddled her. "I'm Jason, by the way." Jason saw her gawking at the various pilot instruments. "Never flown a helicopter before?" Misty shook her head. "Good. It takes a lot of practice."

There came a loud thump from behind them, which, apparently, was some kind of signal to take off. Jason pushed a few buttons, put both hands on the steering wheel, and they took off, first going straight up, then flying horizontally. Misty couldn't take her eyes away from the window; her town quickly muddled into various landscapes of green and black, the people and cars like something from a child's dollhouse. "Yep, flying a helicopter can be fun, especially when you work with someone like John Hammond."

Misty turned her head to fast, a sharp pain drilled through her neck. "_The _John Hammond? The one who funds Alan Grant's digs? The one who was called crazy?" She saw John Hammond as a genius, for his work with dinosaurs, and also for his funding of Alan Grant. Jason nodded, a smile spreading across his face.

"He's in the helicopter right now, along with your father and a lawyer, Donald Gennaro. We'll actually be picking up Dr. Grant and his partner, Ellie Sattler, in about half an hour. We have to fly to Montana to get them, they're working on a dig right now," Jason explained, finding Misty's positively shocked expression humorous.

She could hardly speak she was so excited. First, she was going to Jurassic Park, plus, she got to meet _the _John Hammond, _the _Alan Grant, and see what his newest dig was! "This is the best day of my life," Misty sighed ecstatically, leaning back in her seat, taking in the glorious few of mountaintops in the distance, a cool purple against the pale sky. Sure, she was breaking the rules, but it was definitely worth it now.

For a while, Jason and Misty talked, about John ("he's going to change the world"), about Alan ("he's a paleontology genius!"), about Ian ("He can be a little crazy"), and a little about Jurassic Park. "I don't want to spoil anything for you," he hinted, "but you'll be blown away. Literally." That made Misty laugh, or maybe it was because she was in the best mood she had ever experienced. For once, she had rebelled, and she wondered why she hadn't done it before. Kelly was the one who snuck out and went on dates and talked-back to her father; Roger was the baby of the family. Misty was always the responsible one, who got good grades, who did her chores, who took care of Roger. Now she knew why Kelly disobeyed; it was a blast!

The half hour was up soon, and they landed in, what looked like, a sandy desert, with clotheslines and trailers and the ridges of a skeleton in the distance. Misty immediately looked out her window, finding Alan Grant was running towards the helicopter…only he looked _very _pissed off about something. Maybe it was the dirt that the helicopter was throwing. Alan made a cutting motion with his hands. He wanted Jason to turn off the helicopter. Jason pointed madly at Alan's trailer, where John Hammond went, ready to tell them about his plan. Finally, Alan dashed back to the trailer, and Misty felt her jaw drop to the floor. Alan Grant had been just a pane of glass away from her.

"Hey, I was wondering if you-" Misty gasped when she heard her father's voice, and, sure enough, there he was at Jason's window, asking a question. She froze, but it was no use: Ian recognized his daughter from anywhere, and his surprise quickly dissolved into anger. "Misty Ava Malcolm, get out here right now!"

Misty followed his orders begrudgingly, trudging over to Ian, who had his arms crossed. He took off his black-rimmed glasses, trying to find a way to express his disappointment. No, Ian wasn't angry…he understood how much Misty wanted to come, but he was disappointed she didn't listen to him. "Misty, you really hid in my car, rode to the helicopter, got in this seat, and kept yourself a secret until now?" Ian couldn't help the note of impressiveness creep into his voice. Misty had done quite an excellent job of stowing away.

"I am so sick of being the perfect child!" Misty screamed, attracting the attention of other paleontologists at the dig site. "I do all my homework, I clean the house, I take care of Roger, I stay quiet, and I've never gotten to do anything I wanted to do! Roger is spoiled, Kelly breaks the rules and has the most fun anyone ever had, and I have to stay home while you come to my dream world! I'm glad I snuck on!" She coughed, a combination of the yelling and the still-rising sand.

Ian stood, dumb-struck after listening to his daughter's rant. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized that she was right: Misty did try to be the perfect child, and he never thanked her, or did anything special for her. This was her chance to do something fun, to meet dinosaurs and Alan Grant. Then again, he could send her on a helicopter home…"Okay Misty, you can stay with us. But don't ever try anything like that again!"

"Thank you so much!" Misty threw her arms around Ian's waist, forgetting about her angry rave. There was truth in her speech, but she got what she wanted-to come with her father to Jurassic Park. "And I promise, as soon as we get home, I'll…punish myself! No friends over for a week, and the laptop is taken away! There! Now, let's meet Dr. Grant!"

"Just wait for him back here," he instructed, pulling Misty onboard. She looked around; the interior was spacious and clean, and a nervous-looking lawyer with shorts and a briefcase was sitting on one of the benches. "Um, Misty, this is Donald Gennaro, a lawyer who's coming with us to check out the park, make sure it's okay. Donald, this is my middle child, Misty."

Misty awkwardly shook hands with him, and made sure to sit on the other side of her father, so that Ian separated her from Donald. She was particularly in favor of lawyers, considering she met so many when Ian married and divorced many different wives. Sometimes, it really sucked not having a mother.

A few minutes later, John Hammond reappeared, this time with Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler in tow. John seemed surprised to see Misty, and once he knocked on the wall as a signal for Jason to start up the helicopter, turned to address her. "Why, who is this young lady?"

"This is my middle daughter Misty, who snuck on the helicopter with me. She loves dinosaurs, and wanted to come," Ian explained, and Misty felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment, a dull blush creeping up her neck. She avoided eye-contact with Dr. Grant, even though she wanted nothing more to launch into a conversation with him. "She's actually a big fan of you, Dr. Grant. You two dig up dinosaurs, right?" He and Ellie nodded. "Yeah, she's got your book, won't stop talking about it."

"Dad!" Misty cried, incredibly embarrassed that her father was telling the real Dr. Grant that she was obsessed with his work. Alan didn't know what to think of this; sure, he was pleased with her love of his work, but he didn't especially like kids? Could he even classify her as a kid? More of a teenager. "But, you're theory about dinosaurs turning into birds was quite interesting, and I wrote an article about it on my website." Oh, she was making a fool of herself!

"Website…" What kind of teenage girl had a website dedicated to dinosaurs? Alan leaned back, observing Misty's face carefully: she was quite pretty actually, with her long black hair and wide brown eyes and creamy skin.

"You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm, he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician," John added, using his cane to gesture towards him. _You got that right, _Misty thought to herself. She closed her eyes because she knew what was coming next.

"Chaotician, actually," Ian interrupted, "I work with the chaos theory, the butterfly effect. I'm sure you've heard of the chaos theory, Dr. Sattler." _And coming next, Stepmother Number Six, Miss Ellie Sattler! _Misty thought to herself, wishing she could disappear. Ellie, surprised, shook her head. "Non-linear equations?" Again, she shook her head. "Strange attractions?" _Dear God, will someone shut this man up? _"Dr. Sattler, I am positive you are familiar with the concept of attraction."

_I wonder how far it is to the ground, _Misty thought, staring out the window longingly.

:::::

The helicopter parked, after a quick landing that made the helicopter bounce like a ball, on a grassy wedge of land, a person in park uniform directing Jason down to landing. As soon as the doors opened, Misty practically threw herself at the ground, more then happy to be back on solid ground. Not only had Ian managed to embarrass her severely, but she had to spend minute after awkward minute with Alan Grant.

Two Jeeps, both with drivers, drove over to them, and John made a dramatic sweeping motion with his cane, inviting them in. Misty sat next to her father in the backseat, even though she was a little squished. She didn't want to sit up front with Dr. Grant, and she definitely didn't want to be in the Jeep with the lawyer.

The Jeeps drove through a series of metal gates, the large wires crossing forever without rest, until interrupted by a large sign that read "Warning: Ten Thousand Volts." Two park attendant closed the fence behind them, shutting the latch, which activated the electricity.

Misty looked up at her father, her expression a mixture of embarrassment and excitement. He smiled down at her, squeezing her hand. "I think stowing away will all be worth it in a minute," Ian told her, and Misty felt her insides quivering in anticipation. They were steadily climbing up a hill, the distance a blossoming, emerald green wall of tall trees. She looked down; her shoe was untied. Misty bent down against her seatbelt to tie her shoe, not feeling the Jeep stop suddenly.

Misty looked up. She almost screamed. But her breath caught in her throat, and all she could do was rise shakily to her feet, hoping that this wasn't some sort of crazy mirage…no, Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler were seeing it too, both in disbelief. "No way," Misty breathed, gently stepping out of the Jeep, afraid that if her movement was too sharp, it would make everything disappear.

Only a few yards away, Brachiosauruses, real ones, were eating the leaves off of trees, walking slowly, their necks bending and swaying. To the left, a pack of dinosaurs raced across the planes, alive and there and no tricks, they were real as the humans in the Jeeps. Misty stepped next to Alan Grant, for once, oblivious to his presence, enticed by the dinosaurs in the distance.

"Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, young Misty," John said proudly, seeming to have predicted this reaction from them. "I give you Jurassic Park."

**Cut! Whew, this chapter took a long time to write! If you guys do read this, I'd appreciate a review or two, especially if you want the second chapter here sooner. =) Don't be afraid to flame, I can toast marshmallows in the flames! **


	2. Chapter 2: Realizations

Chapter 2:

Realizations

Misty felt as though she was breathing through a saturated sponge; a translucent mist congregated above the foliage tops, immersing the throng in the fog. She ascended the concrete stairwell leading to the front doors of the Visitor's Center, gazing in awe at the magnificent skeletal replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that reached to the lofty ceilings. Alan Grant appeared unimpressed, and Misty watched him approach the model, cocking his head as he surveyed it intently.

"As your father, I'll be the first to say that I didn't want you dating older boys," Ian breathed in his daughter's ear with the facetious wit only a father could possess. Misty felt her blood vessels swell beneath her flesh and color her cheeks ruby. She gave Ian a gentle shove, but she was aware that he was right. There was something about Alan almost magnetic, drawing her towards him until the poles reversed and sent her backwards again.

"I'm sick of him being a magnet," Misty whispered under her breath, ignoring the odd glance she received from Gennaro. She advanced forward and halted mere inches away from the paleontologist, whose neck crawled under the intensity of her gaze. Alan craned his neck, relaxing when he realized it was only Misty.

"Hi…" He trailed off and shooed Ellie away as her eyebrows shot up fast enough to cast a breeze. When applied to children under the age of eighteen, Alan had little to no experience, excluding the irritating kid who stayed with his father in the barrens dig site. Misty seemed to be quite the dinosaur expert, but he hadn't the slightest as to how to discuss the topic (or any) with her.

"Have you ever found a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton?" she inquired breathlessly, her head bent low. The tension was tangible, but Alan managed a "no" before he allowed Ellie to whisk him away, smirking worse than Ian. _Damn my inability to talk to any boy who isn't related to me. Or six._

Misty trailed after the group and squinted as they stepped into a dimly-lit theater room, complete with three rows of velvet seats. John Hammond positioned himself at the head of the space, smiling as his double entered on the screen. _This isn't real. This is some video he's prepared._

"John, that hurt!"

_Maybe not…_

The brunette settled back in her seat, absorbing the newfound information on DNA and dinosaurs. As she pondered the theories InGen had produced, she also found herself wondering why her father had been called to attention. Exactly where did a mathematician play a role in the island's opening? Maybe it paid well…their financial woes had increased tenfold since the last ex-Mrs. Malcolm had stepped out of the picture.

_You have your mother's eyes…_Ian would sometimes tell his daughter if the risky subject was brought up. He had never told her which mother, but she had never called any more attention to the topic. And the marriages weren't as much of a concern as money. Money. All this talk of money, which had all been linked to Jurassic Park, John Hammond, _everything. _The real Jurassic Period had been the world functioned without question, without humans defiling the picture with their frivolous desires.

_To put it bluntly, dinosaurs are better than humans. I can't wait for the tour._

Jolted from her reverie, Misty glanced at her father, who had just lifted the bars restraining them to the ride. Set before them was a polished, technical laboratory housing a throng of white-coated scientists, milling about and with an unspoken mantra carrying them through: _genetics._

"Come on, I'm sick of listening to this guy ramble about science," Ian muttered to his daughter, taking her hand and leading her, along with Doctor Sattler and Grant, into the laboratory. Ian had never warmed up to science. But, as his latest mistress had defined it, a mathematician never did.

The room turned out to be more than cold mechanics. Settled in the core of the scope was a nest-turned-incubator, complete with a robotic limb turning eggs every few minutes. A pleasant man of oriental descent smiled when he saw them approaching and was quick to speak to Hammond. "Ah, you're just in time. They're hatching."

Misty held her breath as one of the pristine ovals began to shudder, a crack stretching across the side. An actual dinosaur was hatching in front of her. To be honest, she used to have dreams of the situation, although those had a more surreal vibe to them. (They typically ended in a Vegas show tune, but that was a different story.)

The petite head appeared, coated in an orange ooze that glued fragments of eggshell to his pebbly skin. With surprising tenderness, John Hammond lifted the remnants off the baby dinosaur, using his index finger to sweep the slime from its eye. The little reptile chirped, prompting Ellie to squeal at the adorable display of affection it had for the humans.

"This one is a Velociraptor," Henry Wu addressed his excited guests, consulting his clipboard for further information. "She's the first to hatch, actually."

"Do the dinosaurs breed?" Alan implored, studying the Velociraptor's body type. All he wanted to do was examine the dinosaur, feel its claws and confirm his theories. After all, he had recently uncovered a skeleton of a Velociraptor and he wondered incessantly about the bone structure of the creature.

"No, every dinosaur is a female. We use the DNA to make embryos so we can traffic the amount of dinosaurs on the island." Henry Wu gestured towards the various scientists monitoring the syringes of DNA and miscellaneous genes of other animals.

"How do you know their female? Do the scientists go into the fields and, ah, look up the dinosaur's skirts?" Ian asked slyly. Misty placed her hand on her forehead, trying to recover from the embarrassment he had just bestowed to her. It was difficult to remember he was involved in such a serious and factual-based profession.

"We engineer them that way."

John Hammond handed the still squeaking Velociraptor to one of the handlers, brushing the specks of shell clinging to his palm. "I'll show you to the Velociraptor cage. You're in for a surprise."

:::::

Another Jeep trip later, Misty found herself on top of a squat base adjacent to an enclosure, heavily laced with electrical cables. She could not see any Velociraptors: only dense foliage lingered near the crossed wires. Another handler was maneuvering a panel of switches and levers, pausing only a moment to pass information to Hammond. A steer contained within sheets of cerulean plastic was hefted into the space, disappearing from view.

"They should all be destroyed." A rather burly man attired in khaki ascended the staircase leading over to the guests, a note of resentment in his accented voice. John Hammond nodded towards him, and Misty noted a sort of anxiety in his tone as he spoke.

"Ah, this is our game warden, Robert Muldoon." The man shook hands with Alan Grant before he began to speak about the Velociraptors. Misty chose to gaze beyond the electric bars separating her from the lethal, but gorgeous creatures below her. They shrieked, and the foliage began to rustle violently as the sickening snap of bones shattered the stagnant afternoon air.

_Those things are beautiful. Neck-snapping, beautiful creatures. _Misty leaned in closer and found herself staring into the blood lusting eyes of a Velociraptor. She gasped, stumbled backwards, the abrupt attack spiking her blood pressure into a deadly zone. The dinosaur elicited a gut-wrenching yowl as a bolt of energy rocketed through its body, coercing it away from Misty. Ian hooked his arms around her, concentrating on the quivering treetops and silently daring the Velociraptors to make another unplanned appearance. _"Oh, shit."_

"They're, uh, astonishing jumpers," John Hammond piped up, his eyes shifting behind his bifocals. _He's trying to distract us from thinking about the dangerous parts of the park. That's why he keeps talking about the good things. It's as if he knows we're afraid of what could happen. He knows the park is dangerous…_

The system of rods, now doused in scarlet blood, were raised back into view and stored back in its designated place. Ian leaned down, his lips ghosting past his daughter's left ear. "This is what I was talking about. We can't peacefully coexist with a species God chose for extinction. It doesn't work. They would've attacked you if it weren't for that goddamned fence."

_Another snippet from the chaos theory? What exactly does that have to do with Jurassic Park? I mean, we're dealing with the science of genetics. And-no. If he means…the downfall…the sixth iteration…please, please, please tell me he doesn't mean…_

Out of the corner of her eye, Misty perceived Ian give her an almost imperceptible nod.

:::::

On the ride back to the Visitor's Center, Misty fidgeted incessantly with the loose threads splaying from her jacket sleeve. Her previous exuberance had diminished almost out of existence once she had realized the danger behind the park. This dream factory was beginning to produce nightmares.

_These are creatures that lived ages ago and there's no way to predict their behavior in a situation involving innocent humans. I mean, what if they escaped? What would they do? They live to protect themselves and they'll get any prey they can hunt down. Who knows what will happen? I thought dinosaurs were the most magical animals in the world, but…what about when the magic is gone? What's behind the fences?_

"Now, Miss Malcolm, we'll be discussing some plans and perhaps even prices over dinner. I'm afraid it might get the slightest bit boring, so would you rather eat in the lobby and meet my grandchildren? It might be a bit more entertaining than listening to us." Misty blinked, gathering her thoughts and glancing to her father for approval; he nodded.

"Sure, that sounds great," Misty replied to Hammond, climbing out of the vehicle. The five adults proceeded deeper within the Visitor Center, the enraged voice of Gennaro reverberating against the tiled floors. _Something tells me that if he has kids, he doesn't spend time with them. I mean, what's wrong with letting kids come into a dinosaur park? Their Hammond's own grandchildren, for God's sake. Besides, this gives me more time to work on a report._

A chef directed her to a jungle-themed area furnished with several wicker tables and chairs, serving her without a word. He nodded to her before disappearing behind the kitchen doors, leaving Misty to enjoy her meal in peace. She eyed the entrée: sirloin doused in a creamy gravy. _One word: vegetarianism. _Misty nudged the plate away and reached into her mauve backpack, rummaging around until she came across her notebook. Nibbling on a roll, she opened it to the latest entry, which described, in painstaking detail, the unfairness of not being able to go to Jurassic Park.

_I know I should be excited…no, if this was me from yesterday, I would be dead due to having a heart attack out of sheer excitement. I still can't wait for the tour and I'm interested in seeing the other dinosaurs in action. But, what if Dad is right about this chaos theory? I've learned that, unfortunately, Dad is never wrong. _Misty began to sketch the lines forming the first iteration, drawings her father used to explain the chaos theory. They had gone over it just a few nights ago. What she found was-

_System collapse. _

_No…I've got to put my trust in John Hammond. _The brunette utilized memories of her father's drawings to complete the second and third, watching as the drawings became more intricate. Flaws and system collapse. _Okay, nothing to worry about. I've got to keep this under control. You know how easily you fly off the handle about things. Anybody else finds out, that freakin' lawyer will be on my back and Dad will package me up and ship me back home._

_I have nothing to worry about. Everything will be fine._

SLAM!

The glass doors to the dining room were nearly blown off their hinges by a force challenging that of an atomic bomb. Misty peeled herself off the ceiling and hesitated before moving to ensure she hadn't succumbed to a stroke or shock at the noise. Trembling, she glanced at the gaping doorway, finding a girl of about eleven with her hair tucked neatly in a heliotrope cap and a blonde boy of six holding a glossy book.

"…I'm guessing you're Hammond's grandchildren?"

The girl tilted her head, subtly looping an arm around her younger brother as some form of defense in case Misty was masquerading as an axe murderer. "Yes. I'm…Lex Murphy and this is my brother, Timmy." He waved to Misty, not sensing the anxious aura Lex was exuding. _They're kind of cute. The little boy sort of reminds me of Roger. Oh, well. Time to convince the girl I'm not out for the blood of children._

"Oh, okay. So you're the ones Hammond was talking about. My name is Misty Malcolm. I'm the daughter of Ian, a mathematician who came over here to talk to your grandfather about the park. Hammond thought I'd be bored in the meeting going on, so he told me to wait for you guys." _Great, that didn't sound anything like a stalker…_

"Why aren't you with the other adults? You look like a grown-up," Tim said with an arched eyebrow. _My God, am I that old? I'm five-six. Oh, please God, tell me Hammond is not secretly trying to rope me into baby-sitting these kids. If he is, I'll-no, no, keep calm. Think of nice things: dinosaurs and harmony theories and what have you._

"Actually, I'm only fourteen. Not an adult yet." Misty tossed her journal into her backpack, begrudgingly zipping it away. She had yet to remember what the sixth iteration looked like, but according to her father's work, it was nothing pleasant. "You kids need something to eat?"

"We ate before we came," Lex answered, driving the toe of her shoe into the tiled floor. _She almost looks nervous about something. I hope she's not worrying about me being trustworthy anymore. Despite the fact I've got a brother and sister of my own, I'm not a huge fan of kids. Ah, well. They're cute._

"'Kay. Here, let's go on to the lobby, see if they're done yet. We're taking a tour later. From what I here, it's going to be a blast." Misty halted for a moment, recognizing a juvenile lull in her voice, resembling that of a child anticipating their first visit to a zoo. Blushing mildly, she gestured for them to follow her into the lobby, where the silhouette of the Tyrannosaurs model fell over them like a midnight sky.

"Wow! Look at it! It must be fifty feet!" Despite the myriad of signs foreboding it, Tim reached out to brush his hand against the Rex's fibula, offering the girls a gap-toothed grin. "I wonder if we'll see a real one. There's a picture of one in my book."

_Hey, I know that book…no way, the kid has Alan Grant's book! Maybe I can get used to them. _"Hey, you've got Alan Grant's book?" Misty inquired, peering at the cover to confirm her suspicion. It was unusual for a child to read and comprehend such scientifically-based text, but maybe Tim was more intelligent than she believed.

"Yeah! He said all the dinosaurs turned to birds and that's where they all went, but they don't look like birds to me. It's still my favorite book." He opened the tome to the chapter dedicated to Tyrannosaurs Rex's, tracing the bone structure with his fingertip. "This one sort of looks like the one here, only a little smaller."

"You're right, I'm guessing the skeleton here is one of an older dinosaur, a male one." Misty smiled at the boy before glancing back at Lex, who had her cornflower eyes fixated on the lethal fangs attached to the frame's jaws. "You into dinosaurs, Lex?"

The blonde shrugged, one finger dedicated to swirling a wispy bang around the tip. "Sort of. I'm more interested in computers, though." _Ah. Computer nerd. Ooh, shouldn't even think that. Remember, these are the grandchildren of the man letting me come into this park. Play nice. We don't want a repeat of your first baby-sitting job. _Lex visibly brightened and she raced towards the stairwell. "Grandpa!"

Misty elevated her chin, discovering the party descending the steps. Tim proceeded after his sister, the siblings knocking John Hammond off his feet in their haste to greet him. She calmly stepped over the endearing family reunion to join her father, who had a rather agitated glint in his eyes. "Somebody hurt your feelings, Daddy?"

"Let's just say I called this park the rape of the natural world. And I'm right. Before they could even understand what they accomplished, they're trying to sell it. These people stood on the shoulders of geniuses to find something they don't even know how to control." Ian rubbed his temples, struggling to tame the fury rising within him again. The Malcolm family had quite the history of emotional outbursts.

"Come on everyone, we're about to start the tour!"

_Like I said, everything is going to be fine. _Misty glanced back at the skull of the Tyrannosaurs Rex, the calcium glinting in the late afternoon luminescence shafting through the windows. _I hope._


	3. Chapter 3: Dysfunctions

Chapter 3:

Dysfunctions

"Dad, have you noticed something?"

Ian Malcolm, previously fuming over John Hammond's incompetence and the briefness of his meal, glanced at his daughter. The brunette was squinting at the Land Cruisers slowly gliding into view, the inner mechanisms of her mind practically visible at work. "What?"

Misty tugged at one of her dark tresses, struggling to properly word her explanation of what had been troubling her. It was always difficult to present a case that made you sound like you were in desperate need of a visit to the loony bin. "Well…it's just how odd things are at the park. Notice how John Hammond kept trying to distract us at the Velociraptor cage? Especially after one tried to attack me? And…ah, I don't know, I think I'm just paranoid. But…I think he caught on to me, and sent me to the dining room to wait for the kids."

Ian wordlessly gawked at the elderly man, who was attempting to shepherd his enthusiastic grandchildren out of the vehicle's path. "I knew he was insane, but not _that _insane. John has this wonderful gift of trying to sweep bad things under the rug. These bad things include the rape of the natural world. If he manages to open this place…let's just say weren't not going to be first in line."

"For some reason, I had a feeling you'd say that." Misty grinned at her father, feeling wonderfully in place. Their relationship was a healthy one, despite the stress that arrived whenever a woman left their life. They could rely on one another to understand what was on their minds, be it chaos or paleontology or financial problems. Misty couldn't imagine life without him.

_Ooh, smart doctors! Now, we see Misty in an unfamiliar environment, attracted to the most familiar creatures she can find. These are Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, here to dazzle and amaze! _The girl prepared to leap off the front steps of the Information, only for Ian to snag the collar of the black, short-sleeved jacket she wore over her lavender shirt.

"Where do you think you're going?"

_Is it to late to erase that whole spiel about loving Dad? _Misty tilted her head up at him, grinning until the corners of her mouth almost touched her eyes. "Uh, to the car?"

"Hmm…" Ian eyed John as he made his way back into the lobby: why wasn't he boarding the tour along with them? "And which car would that be?" Ian was well aware Misty had plans to hitch a ride with the doctors, plans that he, regretfully, intended to negate.

_Dammit. My own father is smarting than I am. Well…he has gone through six years of college. I'm a freshman. Okay, that's an equation I can solve. _"Um, whichever car the doctors are riding?" Misty peered at the two vehicles over her father's arm: Alan Grant dodged the Murphy siblings, while Ellie Sattler laughed at his efforts.

"Nice try. I actually think you might've gotten past me. Why don't you ride with kids? You like…kids, you know? Kelly and Roger and…" Ian trailed off weakly and Misty fell against her father's chest, her voice muffled by the black fabric of his shirt. "It won't be so bad. Come on, there's going to be dinosaurs out there, you won't even notice."

"Doctor Malcolm, I suggest we get moving," Donald Gennaro called from the passenger seat of the head Land Cruiser. Misty sighed and pushed herself away from Ian, casting him one last pleading look. He shook his head mournfully, heading towards the rear car, which contained his daughter's heroes.

Swearing quietly under her breath, Misty slid into the driver's seat, pressing herself against the car door to evade conversation with the lawyer. He made her increasingly nervous and those kind of people caused her guards to go up. The siblings were moving restlessly through what little space they had, pointing out features of the Land Cruiser or the park outside. _Oh, well. They seem like okay kids. Maybe they won't be like Kelly and Roger: irritating and hyperactive. Yikes, not a road I want to go down…_

"Hey, look, it's moving!"

Misty fell back against her seat as the steering wheel came to life, steering them away from the Information Center. The pedals at her feet operated themselves, maintaining a continual speed through the winding path of jungle. _Hey, maybe I should get a car like this. Paint over all that orange and green…yeah, I can see it. Plus, the sunroof is huge. Bonus._

With a soft yawn, she dug her journal out of her backpack, hoping to capture some information from the CD-ROM or even manage a sketch or two. The only setting outside the window was the dense vegetation, with trees extending to the cerulean sky. A man's sonorous voice reverberated deep within the speaker system, reciting information about the park.

"Think we're going to hit that?"

A pair of oaken doors loomed before us, branding the Jurassic Park emblem, adorned with lit torches. The sight took Misty's breath away: these were the gateways to heaven, the escape from reality she yearned for. To her embarrassment, tears began to gloss her gray eyes and she hastily swiped them away. No time for tears. There was too much to see.

"On your right will be a herd of dilophosaurus." That was all Misty needed to hear. Instantly, she fought for a decent view of the enclosure beyond the window, her heart pounding in anticipation. A species she had only read about. Any moment now…any moment…_That's odd. Where are they? And why haven't they come out yet? I thought…_

Misty leaned back as far as her seat and spinal column would allow her, struggling to catch a glimpse of Alan or Ian. They were plastered to the window as well, but appeared much less exhilarated now. To her immense disappointment, the Land Cruisers began to move again and Misty's ascertained Alan slamming his palm against the paneling.

"Why didn't we see anything?" Tim inquired, poking his head between the two front seats. Misty could tell he was suppressing frustration, which she admired: kids were kind of stubborn that way, determined to enjoy things.

"Well, I guess they were hiding. I mean, dinosaurs don't usually react well to unfamiliar objects in their environment. Or maybe we're just a little unlucky. Don't worry, we're sure to see something else." Misty smiled lightly at him, satisfied when he returned the action and disappeared behind the seats again.

They set off, this time en route to the Tyrannosaur Rex paddock. The mere thought sent a strange electric impulse through Misty's veins, igniting a sort of flame she hadn't felt in years. Her fingers danced on her thigh, her eyes darted across the windshield, praying for something, anything, to make her dreams come true. It was adrenaline and she was in love with it.

"God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs." Ian Malcolm, the only one to speak out in the silence, thought aloud, his thoughts causing a smirk to form on Ellie's visage.

"Dinosaurs eat man. Women inherit the Earth," she finished, earning several odd glances from the two male members. Ellie idly disregarded them: she was always one to embrace female superiority, no matter what situation it was present in. She leaned towards the window, hoping to discern a creature through the foliage.

A goat, chained to a stake, rose from the ground, bleating thickly and stamping his petite hooves. _Oh, Lord…here comes the second innocent animal of the day to be brutally massacred by an enormous dinosaur. My favorite. Note to self: vegetarianism has its benefits. _Misty was baffled as to why the Tyrannosaur had not yet arrived. His meal was literally placed right in front of him.

_Of, course. He wants to hunt. The Tyrannosaur bases its life off instinct. He needs to hunt._

"What's going to happen to the goat?" Lex asked from the backseat, fear creeping into her voice. Misty peered curiously at her; she was a bit stiff, shaking her head at the older girl. Lex connected the dots and her cornflower eyes widened in terror at the proposal before her. "It's going to eat the goat?"

"Excellent," Tim chirped with a vastly different outlook on the situation. Misty was prompted to roll her eyes, but she was distracted by the movement in her father's Land Cruiser. Ian was engaging in conversation with Ellie, their words near impossible to decipher. She never was good at reading lips.

"What's the matter kid, never had lamb chops before?" Gennaro said with a vaguely sarcastic tone, his eyes glued to the small animal in the clearing's center. Lex pressed her lips together, turning her head and the lift of her chin silently demanding at least a fraction of dignity.

"I _happen _to be a vegetarian." _Oh, good for you. Let us toast our wheat germ and whatever the hell it is vegetarians actually eat. Wait a minute…poor Ellie, Dad is rambling. Again._

"You see? The tyrannosaur doesn't obey set patterns or park schedules. It's the essence of chaos." Disgruntled, Ian settled back, pretending he didn't notice Ellie's ever-widening smile. She was very attractive, as well as intelligent, two key qualities Ian searched for in his trial and error marriages.

"I'm still not clear on chaos," Ellie offered, turning around in her seat to face Ian. She found him to be clever and, so far, had never failed to make her smile. There was something persistently appealing about his logic and dry wit. In fact, both members of the Malcolm family were intriguing: it was a rarity to meet a teenager enamored with dinosaurs.

"It simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems. It's only principle is the Butterfly Effect. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking and in Central Park, you get rain instead of sunshine." Ian waited a moment, chuckling when Ellie made a sweeping gesture over her head to demonstrate how little she understood. "I did a flyby, I went too fast. Here, hand me that big glass of water. We're going to conduct an experiment."

Alan, brooding over the significant lack of dinosaurs, darkened even further as Ian took Ellie's hand.

He dipped his fingers into the water, releasing a single drop on the woman's smooth knuckles. "Now, watch the way the water rolls on your hand." The globule slipped off the side, vanishing on the fabric of the seat. "Ready? Freeze your hand, we're going to do the exact same thing. Which way do you think it's going to roll off?"

Still a might overwhelmed, Ellie contemplated which way the drop would roll. "Uh, the same way." Ian released another drop; this one cascaded over her thumb.

"It changed. Why? Because and here is the principle of tiny variations-the orientations of the hairs-on your hand, the amount of blood distending in your vessels, imperfections in your skin-"

"Oh, imperfections?" The tips of Alan's ears were scarlet, so he busied himself with surveying the jungle that slowly rambled past.

"-microscopic-never repeat, and vastly affect the outcome. That's what?"

"Unpredictability?" Ellie guessed, shaking the remaining moisture off her hand. She blinked, the two pieces of data clicking in her mind and offering the image of what Ian was striving to convey. Ellie looked to Alan for help, but he was preoccupied with the park, so she turned back to Ian, an eyebrow arched.

"And even if we haven't seen it yet, I'm quite sure it's going on in this park right now," Ian stated grimly, his eyes fixated on Ellie's own. "I'm not the only one. Misty thinks the same thing. I think I've taught her well."

Without a word, Alan opened the car door and leapt out, despite the fact the Land Cruiser was moving along the track. He had spotted something out in the clearing while Ellie and Ian were testing the chaos theory. "There, there see? I'm right again. Who would have guessed Doctor Grant would jump out of a moving vehicle?" Concerned, Ellie followed Alan's means of escape, leaving a stunned Ian in the backseat, alone. "See? Here I am now, by myself, talking to myself-that's the chaos theory."

"Look, the doctors see something!" Misty zipped her journal away in the safety of her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. Disregarding Gennaro's stammers to halt, the girl opened the door, hurling herself onto the tender loam bordering the road. Within a few moments, Lex and Tim followed her, the latter much more eager than his sister.

The group strode down a narrow path leading to whatever Alan had pinpointed, his gait steady and determined. Misty hurried to catch up with them, craning her neck with the hopes of catching a better view of the clearing ahead. "What are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure, Alan seems to know," Ellie answered, almost knocked aside by a rather resolute Tim, who seemed dead set on exchange with Doctor Grant. _Sheesh…at least I was subtle about it. _The young boy had the paleontologist's tome in his hands and launched into yet another rant about others he had read.

"And there's this other book, by this guy named Bakker, and _he _says that all the dinosaurs died of disease. He definitely didn't say anything about them turning into birds." _Because Bakker is obviously not a genius like Grant…oh, and the fan girl inside of me begins to speak._

Lex stumbled on her own feet, outstretching one arm to prevent herself from colliding with the ground. Her other hand was seized by Alan, an minor action that graced Lex's visage with an expression like she had just gotten religion. "You okay?" Alan attempted to recover his hand, but Lex was just as strong-minded as her brother.

_I would say I was jealous, but the look on Alan's face is priceless. _Misty smirked in spite of herself, one she shared with Doctor Sattler. The massively uncomfortable Doctor Grant abruptly skidded to a halt, concentrating on a lump in the distance. "Everybody stay here…"

Alan advanced towards the anonymous silhouette and, in a matter of three seconds, was proceeded by Tim. The tall weeds sprouting around him made him look even smaller than he was. Misty shrugged, trotting after the duo with the hope Doctor Grant knew what he was doing. What she saw stole her breath away for the third time that day.

A massive creature laid on her side in the brush, her frantic handler examining her long tail. The dinosaur had a bony frill collaring her neck, with three horns extending her pebbly face. Misty could hear her heartbeat in her ears, but the rest of the world faded into oblivion, except for the triceratops. There was something so…enticing about her. After so many years of articles and drawings, the real thing…it was…

_Unreal._

Alan Grant, in a dream-like stupor, spread himself over the triceratops's torso, rising and falling with every breath. He smiled breathlessly, the sensation of her causing his body to tingle. The two children had similar reactions, although Tim's attention was currently fixated on a pile of smooth stones just beyond the triceratops.

"She's sick," the handler explained curtly, appearing to be addressing Ellie Sattler. The blonde swept her bangs out of her eyes, her botanist mind already at work to supply a solution to the problem. She knelt down and gingerly reached into the dinosaur's mouth, scratching at the blistered tongue. One popped, releasing a silvery pus that was definitely not the norm.

_Hmm…seems to be the work of a toxic plant. But what? _Misty wandered further through the clearing, where a certain flower caught her eye. She crouched down to investigate and everything fell into place. "Doctor Sattler? Isn't this West Indian Lilac?" The plant was toxic and bore berries that were certain to make an animal ill.

Ellie was by her side in a flash, gingerly poking around. It made perfect sense until a new problem presented itself to her. "Wait a minute…they don't look eaten."

A clap of thunder sounded nearby, only fazing Donald Gennaro. In fact, he was the black sheep of their group at the moment, constantly checking his watch and sighing loudly. Misty rolled her eyes, jotting down a note in her journal to confirm her sighting of the ill triceratops.

"I'm going to have to check the animal's droppings," Ellie muttered, heading toward several heaps of decaying feces. The odor alone could bring down a grown man, but the young woman stuck her hand in one pile as if it were nothing but chocolate. She drew a clump out, searching it for traces of lilac berries. "It's not lilac berries…every six weeks…"

Another boom of thunder, at least a decibel louder, erupted, followed by a flash of lightning. The thick clouds stirring overhead only added to the threatening backdrop and further fraying Gennaro's nerves. "Doctors, if you please, I insist that we keep moving."

"Oh. Well, I think I'll stay with Doctor Harding and finish up with the trike." Judging by her tone, there was no dispute for this statement, and Ellie knelt alongside the triceratops, brushing the scales.

"Oh, are you sure?" Alan wasn't particularly favorable of the idea of Ellie staying behind in a mysterious park. He would have to spend another agonizing ride with Ian, or worse, with the kids, until she arrived to brighten his day. Ellie nodded dreamily, but it was swiftly replaced with an expression of purpose. There was no leading her away.

Abashedly, Misty leaned forward, wanting to capture one last image of the triceratops. "Bye, Doctor Sattler." Ellie glanced up and smiled, and Misty followed the motley crew back to the parked Land Cruisers, a warmth spreading through her chest she couldn't begin to describe.

Forget the chaos theory. Today had been perfection.


	4. Chapter 4: Flaws

Chapter 4:

Flaws

**a/n: **Don't know why I've been writing Misty as Ian's middle child, when Kelly can only be twelve or thirteen, and Misty is fourteen. Unfortunately, at this time, I can't repair this in the earlier chapters, but I did fix the summary. Sorry! Anyway, enjoy this chapter! Posted on my birthday!

"Did you see those stones by the flowers?"

Misty blinked furiously, having been engaged in a lovely and, admittedly humiliating, day dream about joining the doctors on an excavation. Coughing to masquerade her lack of attention, she glanced down at the blonde boy who now walked alongside her. "Hmm…? Oh, uh, I might have. I didn't really pay them much attention. Why? Did you think they were important?"

"Well…I didn't say anything, but I think they might have been gizzard stones. I had been, um, reading about them on the ride here, and they're these stones that some dinosaurs eat so they can digest their food. And when the dinosaur is done with it, they throw them back up. I didn't know if they were, uh, important, so I just let it go." Tim sounded quite unsure of his discovery, but Misty was dumbstruck, connecting the dots almost instantly.

"Wow! Those probably were important! If…let's see, if the triceratops had been by the lilac berries…and the stones were by there. She must've been getting some of the berries when she swallowed fresh stones!" The scene assembled in her mind like a jigsaw puzzle, and Misty felt a burst of ecstasy at the discovery. "Great work, Tim. That's pretty impressive: I don't think Doctor Sattler noticed those. How old are you, again?"

Terrible at estimating ages, Misty had to ponder her initial guess. He was proving to be more observant than any other child she was acquainted with. "Oh, I'm going to be eight next month." _How in the hell did I think he was six? Was I in shock? Was is that roll I had? I bet it was that roll I had…_"I just like dinosaurs. And it was in Doctor Grant's book. There was a picture."

At the mere mention of the man stalking down the trail just inches before her, Misty found herself tensing up. Despite the negative response he had to the guests under the age of eighteen, she found him mystifyingly charming and intelligent. She had eyes, though. It was quite evident there was a spark lit between himself and Ellie, one she had no intention of dousing. Still…

"Oh, what am I going to do in a car with Mister Negative?" Ian had the strangest habit of sneaking up on her and breathing questions into her ear. It had been a favorite of his, especially when she assumed she was alone, but now, it was downright creepy.

_Quit referring to my hero at Mister Negative! That's not even a clever nickname! _Instinctively, Misty gave him an almost imperceptible shove, the tips of her ears igniting like Independence Day sparklers. "Dad! Don't say that about him-_considering he's right in front of us." _The second portion of the statement was spoken through clenched teeth, hissing like an agitated snake. "Besides, how did you survive it before?"

"Well, that was when Missus Doctor Sattler had joined us." Misty emitted a strange choking sound that was a breed between a suffocating chicken and a helium balloon. The Murphy siblings exchanged shocked looks, the one of female persuasion wearing an expression of glee. _Oh Lord, I'm going to have a new stepmother sooner than I expected. That, or a dead father. I'm sure Doctor Grant has some sort of weapon on hand: he seems like the kind of man who is ready with a rifle at hand…maybe I should start praying._

The sky was beginning to darken, the orchestra tuning up as it prepared to play the piece of the decade. Marbles of peacock clouds ringed the sun, swallowing it up and cloaking the previously luminescent environment in silhouette. There was a distinct bitterness in the air, an electrical charge that foretold only terrible weather. All the more to add to the somewhat threatening atmosphere.

Misty meandered along the path, her thoughts slowly drifting from her father's outburst and the triceratops encounter. _Hmm…I wonder if I'm staying at the resort with Dad. I think I remembered to bring some things in my backpack. I don't know. I can't remember. Ah, I'll check in the car. Maybe we'll share a room. But what would we do tomorrow? We've seen the tour. Maybe Hammond has another surprise for us._

The Land Cruisers waited patiently for its travelers, still as ostentatious as they were ten minutes ago. Stark against the gray backdrop, Misty avoided eye contact with them as she turned to her father. "I'm riding back with the kids. Will you be okay with Mr. Negative?"

"I may survive…but if you find me dead in the backseat, you'll know why." The brunette rolled her eyes playfully, glancing up as thunder rattled its bones in the far distance. "Ah, so you want to ride back with the kids? I'm always right, I told you that you'd warm up to them."

"Well, I'm sure as heck not there for the lawyer. Yeah, they're an okay pair. You know the boy is eight? I thought he was six…" Misty shook her head, humiliated by her poor guess. "Oh, well. I'll see you back at the resort. Try not to succumb to boredom or be killed by Doctor Grant when you bring up Doctor Sattler."

"I'll try." Ian Malcolm leaned down to peck his daughter on her crown, patting her shoulder before retreating to the rear vehicle, where Alan Grant waited. Misty watched him with a slight smirk, keeping her smoky eyes on him until the rest of the motley crew had boarded. She slid into the back seat this time, sharing the space with Lex. Time for a nap.

The Land Cruisers braved the impending storm, whirring down the track-laid path with steady speed. Its weary travelers were slightly disappointed, but still held a glimmer of ecstasy, which had been incited the moment they set foot on the island. They had seen something no one else on Earth had even caught a glimpse of.

Little did they know, this paradise was going to become a hell.

:::::

Misty unzipped her trusty knapsack, a violet pack that had served her well for nearly three years. Its contents nearly combusted within, determined to escape the fabric confines. "Oh, no. Get back in there," she murmured under her breath, struggling to collect the spilt items. _Let's see…did I remember my toothbrush? _Apparently, her memory had done her a favor and she had collected almost every toiletry necessary for an overnight stay. _I guess I really expected Dad to let me stay…_

A delayed wave of guilt swept over her. The more she contemplated her previous outburst at the dig site, the more she realized how insincere her outlook seemed. Yes, Misty felt unappreciated at times, but honestly, wasn't that the role of the middle child? She would surmount eventually, release the grudge and accept the fact she would never see a bona fide dinosaur.

_And what if Dad's wrong? What if nothing bad happens? This chaos theory of his, I have no idea whether I should believe him or laugh. Dad's almost always right, but…John Hammond did try to lead us away from the park's dangers. Still, isn't that just business? Nothing's perfect. And everything is so tightly operated, the sick triceratops is just…a fluke, that's all. I bet everybody else on this trip would agree with me._

So she had behaved a little…well, bratty. Throwing a tantrum had rarely gotten her anything she wanted, something Ian taught his children at a very young age. Misty couldn't prevent the grin that graced her lips at the memory of Roger's first tantrum. Ian had delivered the lecture with more severity than when he sat Misty down and informed her of the…ahem, "birds and the bees".

_"I don't want you making the mistake I did. I was eighteen and crazy and I married the first girl I could get in my car. I'm not kidding when I say I will disown you if you let some hippie sucker you into marriage or if you, God forbid, get pregnant-Misty! Stop laughing, this isn't a laughing matter!"_

The brunette stifled a giggle as she resealed her knapsack, pressing the corner of her notebook against her palm. She loved how even the thought of her father was reassuring, although the thought of her creation being a mistake burned slightly. The mirth of the lecture faded, leaving behind a familiar feeling of…maybe not misery, a sort of bittersweet regret.

_It will pass. It always passes. I don't need to make a goddamn scene in the back of the car. Don't share your life story with two kids and a lawyer that makes mosquitoes seem hemophobic. _

Realizing she had just wasted the better part of ten minutes fretting over Ian, the park, and, of course, chaos, Misty settled back in her seat, watching the landscape roll past. Thunder rattled its bones in the distance, in response to the lightning bolt's sharp tongue. Several enclosures rambled past, no dinosaurs in sight. In fact, aside from the Brachiosaurus she had seen upon entrance, the deadly Velociraptors and the ill Triceratops, she had seen hide nor hair of any other living creatures.

_Boy, it's humid in here. _Misty reached into the elevated trunk of the vehicle and snagged a flimsy pamphlet, which acted as a somewhat decent fan. She began to wave it in front of her face, an action she borrowed from Lex, who was doing the same with her cap. Without the mauve hat shading her visage, Misty saw that, while not striking, she had pretty features. Her deep-set eyes were a majestic shade of cerulean and her lips were bowed elegantly.

_I really should make some attempt at conversation with them. I've said, what, a few words to Lex and maybe two sentences to her brother. Think. Be remotely social. _"So…has your grandpa built other attractions besides the park?"

Misty had to suppress a cringe at how her voice penetrated the peaceful silence and seemed far too loud for her own ears. Lex halted her cap before her nose, peering at the older girl with an almost incredulous expression. The blonde was surprised: she had thought Misty to be the quieter type, or even stuck-up. They hadn't shared much discussion, so Lex wasn't quite sure as to how she should play along with this forced small talk.

"Oh, he built this wildlife park down in Kenya, for rare species. And I think his company had some part in building that, um, big aquarium down in Florida." On instinct, Lex's front teeth drove down into her lower lip, a habit she had been struggling to break for the past four years. Nothing else provided the comfort chewing on her lower lip did.

"Yeah, and there's this huge tank downstairs, just filled with sharks! It's almost as big as a house!" Tim chimed in from behind the passenger seat, glad a conversation was beginning. He had grown rather tired of Gennaro eyeing him with a glint of irritation, like there were plenty of other places he'd rather be.

Thanking God that the ice was finally broken, Misty leaned forward and smiled at the sibling pair. "Oh, your grandpa had a hand in building that masterpiece? We vacationed down there during Spring Break, to celebrate my father's fourth marriage. I remember going to that aquarium. Those sharks made the dinosaurs seem like lapdogs." Touched by the memory of childhood thrill, Misty pulled back her lips to imitate the odd grin of a shark. She was met with positive reception, and Misty allowed herself a rib-bursting laugh. She missed acting like a child.

…_why was I worried about Dad and the park again?_

::::::

In his car, Ian Malcolm was generating much less favorable response from Alan Grant, whose mood darkened along with the weather. Still, that didn't stop him from launching him into a spiel about how the Triceratops was the primary example of the chaos theory. "I knew this was a bad idea, from the moment I set foot on the island. John Hammond is acting like he's the one who made this all possible. He's a designer basically, he hardly understands the science behind it."

Meanwhile, Alan, hardly a religious man himself, was praying to every god, goddess, and deity to ever exist for deliverance from this intolerable man. Ian was cocky, condescending, and, well, disgusting when applied to women. The way he flirted with Ellie…Was it not apparent he and Ellie were…more?

_Am I losing her?_

Hastily pushing the thought out of his head, Alan turned back to the window, his attention having entirely detached itself from Ian's senseless rant. What mathematician knew anything about dinosaurs or paleontology? None. Aside from Ian, he was already in a particularly sour mood. The day had started as promising as a newly-birthed star, glistening and glimmering with potential. What had happened? Was it the distinct lack of dinosaurs on show? Was it Ellie's insistence to stay behind? Was it those cursed park guests?

"…Triceratops is like a warning signal, a Tornado Watch. I'm sure Doctor Sattler must have noticed as well," Ian added fervently, rummaging through his pockets for another stick of chewing gum. He was well aware Alan Grant was no longer paying him even the slightest shade of attention, but that had never stopped him before. Thus, Ian contrived a somewhat wicked plan to receive something more than a passing glance. "Doctor Sattler…she's not, like, _available, _is she?"

If embarrassment was a noise, everybody within the hundred mile radius would have simultaneously gone deaf. Miraculously, Alan harbored the bitter humiliation, focusing on the foliage that slapped the rain-speckled windows of the Land Cruiser. Still, he could feel the tips of his ears turning maroon.

When silence was his only reply, Ian smirked and knew victory was his. He provided an answer of his own, "oh, I see. You two are a-"

"Yeah," Alan interrupted before Ian could insert his own term for what he and Ellie were. He was quivering, he noticed, quivering with a raw fury, one that eroded his insides like acid. The man searched his mind desperately for a tactic, a topic to entertain Ian for the twenty-five minutes left of their drive back to the resort. Hoping to divert the attention from Ellie, Alan tossed another bone to the dog. "Are you married?"

"Occasionally." Alan couldn't deny the fact he was taken aback by the quick reply, and all the more assured Ian was unfit to even lay eyes on a person like Ellie. "Yeah, I'm always looking for another ex-Mrs. Malcolm." He paused a moment to work his tongue through a sheet of gum, awaiting Alan's reaction. The paleontologist's calloused hands were knuckled around his canteen, grip so iron that a crack was spreading through the plastic.

To be perfectly honest, Alan curiosity was piqued and he had to know another fact about the Malcolm family. Misty was an odd specimen, not near so much as her father, but unique nonetheless. "So…how many kids do you have then?"

"Three. You've met Misty…ah, she's my little angel, really. There's Kelly, she'll be thirteen in November, she's got a lot of spunk. A little too much, as her mother used to say. Oh, and Roger, he's four. Cutest little devil you'll ever meet." Ian smiled at the endearing images of his children, and out of the corner of his eye, he swore Alan's lips twitched.

"Three kids, huh? Never much…well, I never much liked kids myself. But it sounds like, well, I guess they think you're a pretty good father." _Especially if they only have a mother every time you go to Ladies Night, _Alan Grant silently added.

Ian's shoulders shook as he elicited a chortle more often heard on drunk men that were a shot away from death. "Ah, you'd think so. Kelly's snuck out of the house so many times, I've left the front door open. And Misty almost always sounds like she's a second away from moving into the backyard. Thank God, Roger's too young to hate me. But it'll happen soon."

_Don't worry Ian, _Alan thought as the Land Cruiser rambled past another enclosure, _for now, I'll be the only one that hates you._


	5. Chapter 5: Errors

Chapter 5:

Errors

**a/n: **Thanks to reviewers! I am loving writing this story and I swear on my life that the fic will not fall to blatant movie novelization. Several plot elements will be warped, removed, or replaced. Hang in there: this is where the Rex attacks. Be prepared. Oh, and I would like a little reception on Misty. Are you guys enjoying her? I pray to the gods she's not Mary Sue-ish. Sorry. Enjoy!

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

As Misty was roused from a light sleep, she realized the incessant whispering was only the rain spattering against her window. With a soft yawn, she shifted positions and found her cheek had been smashed unceremoniously against the plastic paneling around her seat. The side of her visage now throbbed, vessels beneath her flesh expanding to pump vital blood back at the typical pace.

_That's weird. It sounded like someone talking. I must be listening to Dad too much. _The brunette rolled her shoulders, her muscles groaning in dutiful compliance to the movements. She considered returning to the realm of sleep when a thought broke through the haze around her mind. The car wasn't moving. Misty rubbed her eyes lethargically, glancing around the vehicle's interior, which held the same passengers as before. "Why aren't we moving?"

Lex turned her head, mauve cap, once again, engaged in circulating the humid air. "The power went out. I think it's because of the storm," she explained, gesturing to the brunt of a hurricane pouring outside her window. Misty nodded, struggling to move her tongue through the parched landscape of her mouth. The first item she would tear the resort room apart for was a bottle of water. The Malcolms were especially talented in the art of scavenging complimentary gifts from hotels. Their stay at the Holiday Inn had resulted in a suitcase worth of miniature lotions, shampoos, and towels.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

_This is getting annoying. Sleep…you're getting sleepy…_Misty could sense the onset of a migraine, which she battled by leaning back onto the sheath of paneling. Though it resulted in bruising, the area was warm where she had been breathing softly onto it. Just as the cerulean horizon of Dreamland spanned into view, she was drop-kicked into reality by the exclamation of "boo!"

With an odd moan, Misty snapped her head away from the window, shamefully aware of the silver strand of saliva dangling from her lower lip. Tim peered at them from the passenger seat, eyes veiled by a ridiculously large pair of goggles, equipped with peculiar components and shaded a generic shade of green. Before either girl could respond, an agitated Gennaro glared at the young boy. "Hey, are those heavy?"

He tugged them gingerly off his head, shaking them to judge their weight. "Yeah!"

"Then they're expensive, put 'em back," Donald admonished with the irritable tone of a parent at their wit's end. The smile gradually faded from Tim's face, but he grinned reassuringly at Lex before sliding the goggles back on. She scowled, near venomous in demeanor as the heat and late time took its toll on her.

"Don't scare me like that!" Lex scolded, swatting her brother with the faded chapeau as he clambered past them, into the trunk. Misty adored his natural curiosity, which was intensified by the thunderstorm and his discovery of the abnormal spectacles. He probably had view of the other vehicle, where her father was most likely slumped over in his seat, blood cascading down his forehead. _And Alan will be holding his sledgehammer triumphantly, knowing Ian Malcolm died talking about Ellie._

"Whoa, cool night vision!" Tim exclaimed, adjusting the fixtures on the sides to maximize the image of Doctor Grant and Ian. Alan had his door slightly ajar, holding his water bottle up like an offering to the gods. Interested in the capabilities of the goggles, Misty turned around in her seat, gazing at the rear windshield. Slashing rain sliced through the humidity.

"What can you see?" she inquired while stifling a yawn. The blonde boy began to kick his legs, pleased with the phosphorescent view he had on the world.

"I see the other car. Oh, and your dad is talking to Doctor Grant, and he's drinking something out of a weird metal bottle. Doctor Grant looks mad." Misty threw her hands in the air with a sardonic expression, startling every occupant in the vehicle. "What's wrong?"

_Oh, you know, just my dad drinking and making Alan Grant furious. You know, normal. _"Oh, my dad…probably made him mad. He's a little…crazy. Okay, a lot crazy." She won a chuckle, and used this humorous lull to surge the conversation forward. "So, how well can you see things?" Tim leaned forward, scanning every clarified aspect of the stretch of road and fence behind them.

"Pretty good. I can see the enclosures and a bunch of other stuff, like the other car and the trees on the side of the road." _Sweet. I'll have to try those on. I mean, that's an awesome pair of goggles. If he can see the-_

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

_That sound. That sound again. What is it? _Misty shivered inadvertently, chilled by the rhythmic thumps just beyond the other Land Cruiser. She had never heard anything remotely resembling that, the distant whispering that rattled her chest. It was growing progressively louder, prompting her to wonder: was it really in her head or did it exist…? Goosebumps rippled down her exposed flesh, despite the warmth.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

Slowly, Donald Gennaro raised his head from his hand, struggling to uncover the source of the distant noise. He recognized it from somewhere…but where? In the park? _The park. _Just outside the main doors. Had he heard it? Was he paranoid?

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

"Hey." Tim reached out and ceased the path of Lex's cap, his eyebrows fused in befuddlement. "Do you hear that?" _Yes, it's there! I can hear it! _He pulled himself back between the girls, concentrating on the glass of water on the dashboard. Four pairs of eyes focused solely on the clear liquid, as if waiting for it to perform a magic trick. "Maybe it's the power trying to come back on." Almost imperceptibly, a series of ripples disturbed the surface, accompanied by the ever-present words.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

Instinctively, Misty glanced out the window. The power had failed when the vehicles were driving past the Tyrannosaur enclosure, where they had seen neither hide nor hair of the beast. It was difficult to perceive any object smaller than an average mailbox, but the stake unto which the goat was chained was visible through the fence. The difference? The goat had vanished. Tethers swaying in the breeze, it was quite evident it had not freed itself and left. Something had taken it.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

"Where's the goat?" Lex implored to no one in particular, vocalizing the question on everybody's mind. _I have the feeling…it has something to do with that sound. THUMP! _The crash frayed their already obliterated nerves and Misty slowly looked up, finding the dismembered leg of a goat resting on the overhead windshield. Rivulets of crimson blood began to stripe the glass. The brunette winced as somebody's fingernails dug into her forearm. Lex.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

The Tyrannosaurus Rex, in all its unearthly glory, reared her head back to properly swallow the remains of the animal. The sickening crunch of bones snapping was audible from the vehicle. He touched the fence with an absurdly small forearm, claws in contact with the wires. No electricity. No power. No boundaries. The Rex utilized his brute strength to split the cables on the fence, which allowed access, access to more food. He was on the hunt now. And his prey was within walking distance.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

Donald Gennaro found himself quivering and looked down at his hands: they were trembling violently. The dinosaur hesitantly stepped between the two vehicles, monstrous form vivid against the slice of moon. His throat opened to unleash a deafening bellow, which seemed to stab at his ear drums. "Oh, Jesus…oh, Jesus…" Terrified, the lawyer tore open the door and sprinted into the rain, putting distance between himself and the Rex. Live. He was going to live.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

"He left us…he left us!" Lex uttered, her cornflower eyes wide and her body seized in panic. She relied on authorities, and now that they were alone, there was nobody to guide them through this. They were alone. Misty pried the girl's fingers away from her flesh, trying to formulate a way to veil themselves from danger. Still, she was scared. Petrified. Horrified.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

The door was still agape, the paneling growing speckled with rainwater. Tugging the night vision goggles off, Tim moved into the driver's seat, determined to protect his older sister. She had kept him safe at home, and it was time to repay the favor. He gently shut the car door, which drew the Tyrannosaur's attention. Oh no…

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

Lex rummaged frenetically through the trunk, where, hidden under a layer of brochures, sat a box of emergency supplies. Among them was an enormous flashlight, which she instantly flipped on; the device expulsed a beam of cerulean luminescence. This way, she could warn Alan and Ian, maybe even save them from the Rex's wrath. _What is she doing? What the-a light? Do the words "dinosaur outside" mean nothing?_

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

The Tyrannosaur discerned the abrupt appearance of light and the sound of the car door clicking shut, following the source. She leaned down to view the prey, meeting the blinding blast of radiance, which contracted her pupil. Furious, the Rex roared, stomping through the patches of mud surrounding the stagnant vehicle. This called for drastic measures.

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

Alan Grant sat paralyzed in the Land Cruiser, cringing as the radiance swiveled from the rear windshield. "Turn the light off, turn the light off…" he murmured under his breath, fearing the Rex would attack the children. Gennaro had run past the vehicles moments ago, and Alan had the feeling it was not just for a bathroom break. "Come on, turn the light off…"

_Doom…Doom…Doom…_

"Turn the light off!" The scream was emitted from behind her, but Lex made no move to turn the flashlight off. Misty didn't bother with tenderness as she fought to find said switch, sending the beams spinning against the plastic and reflecting into the blonde's horrified expression. Tim joined the struggle, so it was a simultaneous reaction when the overhead bolts creaked. They glanced up in a fluid motion, plunging the area into dead silence for a blood-curdling moment.

_Doom…Doom…D-_

_"AAAHHH!"_

Outstretching her limbs was intuitive, as if she had developed a sixth sense she could utilize for dinosaur attacks. Misty heard the shrieks of a sibling on either side, the shards of glass filling her ears and debilitating her cohesive thoughts. Agony laced through her bones, creaking under the burden of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's mammoth skull against the plastic. _Oh God miss you love you reason why I love you Dad Roger Kelly miss you wish I got to know you miss you love you here comes the shadow of Death._

The pebbly flesh would forever haunt her, the beacon of Death's lantern through the oblivion of the ink-drop night. When it vanished, she could still feel the cracks in her foundation, the earthquakes that had shattered her to her core. Misty couldn't tear her hands away from the plastic windshield; they slid across the transparent substance, her conscious muddled and shaken.

_SCREECH! _Something substantial jammed into her legs: the metal insides of the vehicle. Her world tipped wildly, slamming her head against one pair of the seats. Lightning bolts shimmered just south of the pain, while stars glistened east of the darkness. Still, the screams reverberated throughout her mind. Misty grabbed Lex's forearms, pulling the girl to her chest, pulse like the wings of a hummingbird. They were thrown into the seats as the Rex tilted the Land Cruiser off the track.

The sky and ground switched places, and Misty could view her body flying wildly around the car, colliding with the soaked pavement. For a second, there was nothing, smoke filling her head, but nothing. The fire ignited later, sparks searing her forehead. Alive. She had been turned over by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but she was alive.

"HEY!"

_No, no, no, no, no. No Alan, don't! NO! It's not worth it! _The paleontologist braved the impending threat of Death, a flare glistening in his hand. With another growl, the reptilian beast started towards him; another bite of prey, flesh and blood, doesn't matter. The Land Cruiser began to buckle under the immense stress, releasing a neuron-shattering shriek that intensified the pain in Misty's head. The Rex turned.

Alan saw the robust tail jetting towards him and didn't have a chance to react, just blink and see Ellie, her eyes, her gentle hands over his. And yes, you'd better believe Alan Grant went flying off the side of the road. But a smile graced his lips as he belied gravity.

"This is not good," Ian Malcolm grunted as he uncapped another emergency flare, his spine prickling at the thought of Alan lying by the road, bleeding to death. He tumbled onto the road and shouted, exerting his lungs and often-used vocal cords. "HEY! GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU SCALY-SKINNED BASTARD!"

_DADDY! NO! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE ME THIS WAY! STAY, STAY! _Misty attempted to crawl forward, towards the gaping mouth of the front windshield, but the remains of the seats bound her, kept her trapped to the Earth. Ian realized the Rex would not be satisfied with an insane man screaming, so he sprinted, embers trailing his pace. The dinosaur followed with a menacing bellow that alerted Donald Gennaro.

"Hail Mary, full of grace-"

An expressionless eye met the cold ones of Gennaro, and he covered his head with his arms as the diminutive hut was blown back. Only he remained. Alive. He was alive. The man anxiously slicked his saturated tresses back, trembling with the full brunt of fear. "NO! NO!"

_The Tyrannosaur doesn't follow set patterns and park schedules. _She opened her massive jaws, exposing an impressive set of teeth, which would be the last image Donald Gennaro ever viewed. There was a moment of fright, of being in the bedroom without a nightlight, before he felt his spine snap under the pressure. His body relaxed. All was well.

_And might I add we are all going to die? _Though it was imperative to remain cool-headed in situations, Misty was at a loss for response. These were creatures she had dedicated her life to, her fiery passion, the muse she coddled and nurtured into an art. Now, the muse was hunting her and yearning to tear her viscera out of her skeleton.

_Focus! This isn't about you! There are no more adults. None. Get the kids out! Get the kids! _The voice of an anonymous stranger that sounded suspiciously like her stepmother Lorraine took command. The brunette obliged, pushing herself off the ground and biting her tongue to prevent the spell of dizziness of grounding her again. Lex's screams had been echoing throughout her body the past few minutes, but now, they were real, nearby.

Lex knew that, somehow, she had suspected this would happen. Something would go wrong. She just…she hadn't expected to be under a car with a Rex mere yards away. How did Grandpa have a hand in this monstrosity? He had always been eccentric, but kindhearted: he loved her and her brother. This couldn't have anything to do with him.

"Lex, please calm down! I need you to listen!" Lex struggled to listen, past her own panic and the pounding of blood behind her eardrums. Above all thoughts was the rhythmic chanting: _I don't want to die. _Misty carefully placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, hastily examining her body for any severe injuries. Aside from a nasty bruise on her cheek and a far amount of scratches, she appeared fine, thank God. "Listen, we'll be fine, okay? I need you to try to unlock that door! Hurry!"

The passenger door was locked, but the mechanism had been damaged during the attack. Lex was the closest to the component, and she started to tinker with the scathed handle, yanking at it as puddles of hurricane slush developed around her neck. All around her, the Land Cruiser was flattening, progressively coming apart at the seams. Hurry!

Misty unceremoniously dove under the swirls of rainwater, shoving at the leather and wood remnants pinning her shins to the concrete. Emerging, she sputtered for a moment, holding down her dinner with every ounce of willpower left in her body. She would have grayed out if it hadn't been for the jostling all around her. No…where the-?

_Oh, no._

_I don't want to die._

_My muse._

The Tyrannosaurus Rex clamped the mangled vehicle in his jaws, the acrid odor of manslaughter filling the cramped interior. Slowly, the Land Cruiser left the ground, waterfalls gushing from every available exit. Lex continued to battle the locks, kicking her legs furiously as her braid slapped her back wetly. _Click! _It was open! It was open! They were free! Live. They were going to live.

Abruptly, the car was tilted and Lex found her world on its side as she fell through the vacant space. An excruciation unlike any other blossomed in her shoulder, setting her nerves on fire. Laying on her back in the pouring rain, Lex could only watch the scene helplessly: the Tyrannosaur rearing his head back, the Land Cruiser sailing through the air, the hideous sound of steel crunching, and finally, the peacefulness of rain tapping against the asphalt.


	6. Chapter 6: Defects

Chapter 6:

Defects

_Uuuummmshhh_

_Shhhhoooommmm_

Sounds despite the darkness.

:::::

The absolutely hilarious aspect of a concussion were the absolutely hilarious memories she saw, little reels of film playing against her eyelids. She would see Stepmother Number Million nested in her feathers, a baby chick huddled in her arms. Opening her eyes, she would offer the bundle to her and whisper, "I know they're your favorite." A baby Velociraptor with a strip of hide clamped in her jaws gazed lovingly up at her. The dinosaur released the meat, eyes glowing and a smile too human to be reptilian spreading across her visage.

_"My muse," _the Velociraptor sang, dragging her down into the darkness and drowning her in blood, rainwater, and shrieks.

Ian was standing behind the tree, occasionally peering around the side like a spooked child, a chart in his hands. "You really should have listened to it," he chided gently, shaking his head, "you might have survived." Kelly was swinging on the robust branches above, majestically gliding over her father. Dark braids swung against the flaming sky. She always loved those braids.

_Goddess…_

"And I'd like you to bury me here," Alan Grant was saying, his tone flat and demanding, index finger jabbing the patches of soil beside a discovered skeleton. "Bury me here. This is where I belong." Ellie nodded dutifully, turning to her with a grim expression. There was a lavender flower cupped in her hands, growing through the calloused flesh.

"Lilac berries."

A cerulean beam of light spun in the distance, the surrounding oblivion bathed in its glow. She lifted her head from the scarlet-drenched carpet of her old house, lost in the supernova around her. A small hand extended its way through the fog, belonging to a child with frighteningly large, jade eyes. "I can see through the darkness," he said, and she accepted, allowing him to pull her back to life.

:::::

Death should have come immediately. In fact, he had been lurking amongst the treetops the moment this park was an inkling on paper, waiting to spring. But when he saw the two children, cradled by nature, he realized they were not dead, not yet, so he let them be. There were masses of other victims he would claim eventually, before the sun rose on the horrendous night.

_Fill in the blanks._

_M-My name is…Misty. Misty Ava Malcolm. I have a Daddy, five Mommies, a sister, and a brother. My name is Misty. And my head is on fire._

The agony in her forehead was unbearable, actually. While in darkness, it had been just south of the haze, but now, it was at its zenith over her mind, bearing down with razor intensity. She panicked when the warmth spread down her cheek, but the liquid nature reminded her it was only blood. Misty gradually perceived her surroundings, yet they weren't compatible with her muddled thoughts.

_Rain, metal, darkness…how am I at home? _The image of pebbly flesh flashed briefly past her, bringing with it an onslaught of blood-curdling memories. Attack, pain, glass. The triplets of words grew tiny wings, buzzing around her skull and causing itches, itches she hadn't the ability to scratch. She was oh so heavy at the moment.

_Wait, no! Wake up, just keep waking up! Remember, there were kids with you! This isn't a game anymore: this is real. Find those kids and keep them safe. It's your responsibility now. _The voice of Lorraine Webster, Roger's mother, continued to invade her own personal narrator, replacing her sarcastic tone with one of sharp command.

Misty wished to shoo her voice away, like the many other words, but Lorraine was right. She forced herself to become aware of the world, rebooting her otherwise fruitless senses. The floor she was laying on swung gently, teetering precariously on some sort of ledge. Whatever it was, the affect was dizziness unlike any other, worse than a sailboat in a hurricane. She managed to prop herself upright on an elbow and promptly vomited, which relieved some of the hideous vertigo.

A strange pattering was emitted just above her: rain striking the side of the mutilated vehicle. Misty turned onto her opposite side, waiting impatiently for the second wave of nausea to pass. Once it did, she was able to shakily rise, but the movement elicited a creaking throughout the backseat of the car. _Backseat…where am I? On the edge of the road? And where are the kids?_

One hand pressed against the bleeding wound on her forehead, Misty crawled forward to where she had a visual of the world below. What she saw nearly sent her into the peculiar dream state once more. The Land Cruiser was balanced in a web of lucky branches, which suspended it at least twenty feet off the forest floor. They were in a tree.

_Great, yeah, this is just spectacular, I'm supposed to get out of a goddamn tree, while there's dinosaurs running through this place. Yeah, yep, this is just super. _Her pulse skyrocketed into a zone that made her susceptible to a coronary at any given moment. Panic would have overwhelmed her if it weren't for Lorraine's commentary. _This isn't about you anymore kid, this is about the people around you. You're smart: figure it out._

Something of the blue streak sort came to mind, but Misty was jolted from any sort of reaction when another ominous groan ripped through the vehicle. The rear tilted slightly and Misty returned to the backseat, balancing it out again. _Careful! This thing is like a see-saw. A see-saw of death. _Swallowing uneasily, the brunette dragged her aching body toward the center of the eviscerated car. "Hello?"

A faint sniffle was emitted from the passenger seat, which was obscured by the remains of said seat. At her angle, Misty had difficulty seeing much of the front, aside from the steering wheel and a fraction of the dashboard. With a grunt of exertion, she hefted herself over the leather remains, wincing as shards of glass sliced her palms. Misty slid unceremoniously into the head of the vehicle, entrance accompanied by it lurching once more. Too exhausted to play the balancing game, she leaned against the dashboard. That was when she realized she wasn't alone.

:::::

Timothy Murphy loved dinosaurs. It sounded much simpler when summarized, but, after much contemplation, it really was that straightforward. He had a plethora of books on the subject, including Doctor Grant's, and had his own opinions on what happened to them, thank you very much. They were creatures that should have existed solely in the dream world and it was astonishing to think they had lived on this very Earth, millennia ago. Once he learned his grandfather had dinosaurs on the brain, well, he had practically thanked him. Nobody else really harbored the same passion for the beasts as he did.

That was his problem, actually. Tim's parents were in the process of ending a marriage that should have never occurred. He was having difficulty grappling the situation, especially after learning he would be moving in with his father. Adam Murphy did not approve of dinosaurs. He believed it promoted young boys to dream about silly monsters, when there was a real world to be working in. Lex never teased him about it, thank goodness, but it would have been nice to have somebody to share his love with.

Family wasn't his only concern. Tim was a somewhat shy boy and communication with his classmates had moved from intimidating to out of the question. Being taunted for dinosaurs was not his cup of tea. So he closed himself off from the cruel reality. Pretending the Jurassic world, lush with diverse vegetation and populated by magnificent beasts, was just outside his door was comforting.

Timothy Murphy loved dinosaurs. And even as he lay on his back in the crumpled Land Cruiser, he came to the conclusion that this fact had not changed.

Awe and wonder, however, quickly dissipated, leaving pain and confusion in its wake. Before the Tyrannosaurus had so brutally thrown them into the tree, Tim swore he saw Lex fall onto the road below. She had escaped; how, he didn't know. At least she was safe. He knew Misty had to be with him. Where? He didn't know. Tim's perception had been skewered during the attack, and he hadn't the slightest as to where in the car he was, or where in the park he was. He could have been dead, for all he knew.

Tim hazily reached out to bring himself up and was almost slammed back by a qualm brought on by the incessant rocking of the decimated vehicle. He turned his head just in time to vomit, an act he absolutely despised. Throat burning, the blonde boy rolled onto his opposite side, cringing as a pain shot through his side. It vaguely occurred to him he might be injured. The blooming of blood on his filthy shirt confirmed this proposal.

Once he was sure the dizziness had passed, Tim pressed his back against the closed door, which was barricaded by the tree's massive trunk. He gingerly pulled back the once powder blue fabric away from the shirt underneath, where the blood was more prominent. Here it comes. Teeth gritted, Tim peeled it away to reveal a gash about the length of his pinky finger, too shallow to be serious. He relaxed and kept the striped shirt tight to stifle the flow of blood.

While at it, he composed a brief list of other wounds: the most painful was the one by his left eye, where the flesh was either severely bruised or opened. Aside from a few scratches though, he had escaped the ordeal in one piece. One very lucky piece.

Something new hit him: fear. A Tyrannosaurus Rex had _thrown him into a tree. _What if she was still out there, awaiting his arrival? Would he ever make it out of the park alive? There were no adults around, that was for sure. Donald Gennaro had left them

_he left us, he left us!_

and both Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm hadn't been in sight. What about Lex? Where was she? Was she hurt?

Warm tears threatened to fall, but Tim quickly brushed them away; he wasn't up for two shameful acts tonight. No, what he really needed to do was get out of the car. Maybe somebody would be nearby. Maybe some dinosaur would be nearby.

Somebody slid-well, the more appropriate term was toppled-into the driver's seat and for a moment, it seemed the Land Cruiser would plunge right to the ground. The sturdy branches cracked, the vehicle shuddered slightly, the word _Death _circled through minds. Misty heard the sound of her skull colliding with the steering wheel, didn't feel it, and she inhaled deeply. This was a breed of claustrophobia, coupled with a bleak sense of hopelessness. This was it.

He only watched her for a moment, peeling back her layers, glimpsing at the girl he had known for half a day. A stranger. A floater. The person you meet once, just once, and they fade from your memory like a bad day. Now, somebody he had to trust. _Had to._

Misty glanced to her right-a gaping rectangle that had once held a pane of glass-then to her left-a terrified boy. A knot formed in her throat that proved increasingly difficult to breathe around; it was more frightening when she didn't know why it had appeared. Was she…relieved? Had Misty been so convinced both Murphy siblings were dead that seeing one was…comforting? _You're about to cry…hold it back! You're a woman, fold it up and hold on to it. Just hold onto it until you can cry into a pillow with a box of chocolates._

The oxygen amount doubled within the enclosed space as neither inhaled for the better part of a minute. A thousand words assaulted her tongue, but she hadn't the ability to vocalize any of it. Finally, after much silent deliberation, Misty managed a smile so wobbly it was little more than a line. "Hey."

Despite the conditions, Tim found himself biting back a laugh. "Hi. We're in a mess, aren't we?" A second passed, and then Misty had to lean her head back again to avert a black out as she giggled madly. It stung to have hysterics, burned even, but the agony was different: laughter is the best medicine. Here she was, chuckling like the Mad Hatter while blood glued her dark hair to her cheek, dinosaurs roamed outside, and half the guests were missing or dead. God, it was funny, oh God, it was funny.

Unfortunately though, Lorraine's voice bit through the white noise with expected malice. _Alright, fun time over. You've been stalling for five minutes. Get. Out. Of. The. Goddamn. Car. _Misty swiped the tears away, her cheeks rouged with hysterics. "Y-yeah, we are in a mess. We've got to get out of here and find…well, anyone. Lex. My dad. Doctor Grant. Can you…can you trust me to…well, can we try to get out of here?"

"Where exactly is…here?"

The icon of the ground, dimpled with moonlight and strewn with tawny leaves, flashed through her mind. Misty shuddered, configuring a way to soften her answer. "We're…we're, uh, in a tree. At a weird angle. So we have to be careful, okay?" Tim's cocoa eyes widened involuntarily at the thought of the Land Cruiser teetering on a feeble ledge, miles from the ground. Heights were…not his thing. "Look, we're going to be all right. We just have to take this one small step at a time. We're not even that far. Look-look at me." He sheepishly obliged, meeting her eyes. "We can do this, okay?"

"… Okay," Tim agreed, somewhat reluctantly, not expecting a pep talk from Misty. She offered that wobbly smile again, before turning methodically to the door. With a soft sigh of anticipation, Misty gently pulled the handle- -

_Click!_

_So this is what the feeling of wanting to break into a song and dance number is like. _The brunette released the lever, which upset the hinges: the door swung out wildly, revealing a one-way exit. It was the threatening oblivion of the rabbit hole, except these curious creatures were hungry for blood. _Don't. You. Dare. Panic. _

"Uh, give me a second." Misty carefully lowered herself down, waiting until her tennis shoes met another limb. She tested the stretch of oak and was grateful to find that it would hold her weight. "Okay. I'm just going to stretch my arms out. Crawl on over whenever you're ready." The lightness of her voice was belied by the nervous tic in her right eyelid.

Tim's initial thought was that Misty had hit her head hard enough to knock her common sense right out of her skull. What was she even standing on? A branch? How would a branch support them? Besides, why not stay in the Land Cruiser? It sheltered them from the rain and they were safe from the… dinosaurs.

But that was selfish- - wasn't it? What if Lex was stumbling through the enclosure on her own, shivering and terrified? The very proposal of Lex being in danger tightened his chest. If Misty had confidence in their escape… he _had to _trust her, remember?

Gradually, almost inch by inch, Tim reached for the pole surrounding the windshield, pulling himself off the drenched flooring. Her lips were still upturned in a grimly patient sort of way, but her hands, resting on the driver's seat, were quivering violently. He laced his fingers between hers, a jolt of pain racing up his side as the wound opened another centimeter. "Don't pull me too hard."

"Sorry," Misty apologized, deciding there must be a hidden injury she was agitating. The bough beneath her feet swayed questionably, so she hastily grabbed another that met her neck. Eventually, Tim was out of the vehicle, elbows hooked around the limb Misty had one hand situated on. It was then he had a decent view of the ground. His heart plummeted to the forest floor, through a layer of bedrock, and into the fiery core of the Earth.

"There's no way we can climb this! It's like fif-fifty feet!" the boy exclaimed, clinging to the wood for dear life. Before Misty could insist it was barely half of his estimated drop, the Land Cruiser creaked noisily, and seemed to slide down a hair. _That's not a _good _sound…_

"Oh. Oh, no. Go Tim, GO!" Panic would have to wait. They scrambled down the complex array of branches, occasionally missing a step and falling for a heart-stopping moment before catching another. As they descended the gargantuan oak tree, the mauled vehicle followed, the grille grinning horribly down at them. Too fast, just too fast… Misty ducked her head, doubtless that the crumpled hood would sever her head in half. Her terrified expression was bathed in the radiant headlights. Ah! A second to spare. "Go!"

The brunette decided a bruised shoulder was much better than a shattered skull. Misty drew the boy to her chest and skipped the last batch of feeble branches, landing firmly on her back, the Land Cruiser not far behind. She led Tim away from the trunk's base, covered both their heads, and waited…

_CRUNCH!_

They were alive. Curled within the space between the front and rear areas, Misty lifted her head, glancing around in disbelief. The ground had never seemed so welcoming, gravity finally bounding her to the soil, where she didn't have to be concerned about falling. "Well… we're back in the car again."

The delirious spell of laughter caught her again and Misty pressed her cheek into Tim's blondish curls, thanking the Gods they had spared him. They had survived. That was what mattered now. The odds were in their favor.

After slithering out of the hunk of metal for the final time, the pair wandered to the sharp incline of the enclosure. Misty wondered where on Earth Lex could be, and she felt a familiar pang of horror at the picture of losing her. The rain had softened, but the chilly fog was impenetrable. She wouldn't be able to see anything- -

"Misty?"

Deep in thought, the girl swiveled around to face her companion, and her heart sank at the film of tears glistening in Tim's eyes. There was something wrung in his hands, a mauve fabric. It took Misty a moment to discern it through the haze, but once she did, her heart halted dead in her chest.

He was holding Lex's baseball cap.


	7. Chapter 7: Faults

Chapter 7:

Faults

**a/n: **You guys are seriously awesome. I mean, I send thee thy virtual hugs of gratitude and Velociraptor repellent. Glad to see that you all love reading this story, because it is lots of fun to write. Now, time for the next installment: Will Lex survive? Will Alan and Ian be found? Will Misty's voice in her head ever shut up? We will just have to see…

Eleanor Genevieve Sattler was the first female paleobotanist to work at the Snakewater dig site. When she arrived, a twenty-nine-year-old with a glittering record and equally bright eyes, she had been the subject of ridicule from scientists of the opposite gender. While she appeared to take these comments in stride, they had wounded her, scratched the seemingly impenetrable surface of her psyche. She had been days away from resigning when Doctor Alan Grant approached her.

He was different. Of course, he was a paleontologist, a respected one at that, but he had never participated in the crude assaults against her. Alan was quieter, somewhat sullen, and had a thirst for prehistoric knowledge that could not be quenched. He had walked up to her one sweltering June night, the brim of his signature hat sheltering those crinkly eyes. With an almost imperceptible stammer, Alan had asked if she could assist him in identifying a newly discovered fossil. Surprised, and secretly pleased, Ellie had agreed.

Alan was thirty-nine; Ellie had recently turned thirty-one. Age was but a number, yet she could not help observing how mature he already he was. Keeping their relationship strictly professional had become more of a fairy tale as they began to spend more time with one another and two, four, six, eight glasses of wine were poured.

She loved him. The words were simple, direct, but they rang with a truth that she could scream from the hilltops. Alan Michael Grant was the man she needed in her life. The man she was ninety-nine percent sure had plans to propose to her next month. A beautiful house. Prosperous careers in paleontology and paleobotany. A child (Hailey for a girl; Jackson for a boy). Futures, glimmering and full of promise.

Eleanor Genevieve Sattler sat in the passenger seat of Muldoon's Jeep, struggling to convince herself that Alan Grant was still alive. When neither of the vehicles had returned to the Visitor's Center, John Hammond, in the most level voice possible, asked them to kindly fetch his grandchildren. Six people. Six people lost in a dinosaur amusement park. A feeling of doom settled over her.

The power had failed, as well as several systems in the park. Suffocating darkness settled over them, masquerading the vehicle as it glided silently down the pathways past each enclosure. Ellie drew the hood of her plastic oilskin closer to her freezing scalp, watching the drops cascade down her hands. _"Which way do you think it's going to roll off?"_

A shadow of a grin graced Ellie's smooth lips. Ian was an amusing man, and the memory of his smirk offered a source of glowing comfort in her dark, dank world. Hopefully, Alan had tolerated him long enough for the two of them to escape. Or, his extensive knowledge of prehistoric creatures had come in handy during a point of crisis. Whatever had happened, Ellie prayed, prayed to every god in existence, nobody had died.

"We're coming towards the T-Rex enclosure," Robert Muldoon mumbled to no one in particular, flipping one of the many switches on the dashboard. Ellie nodded absently, confirming to Muldoon that she had been listening. He thought she was an intelligent woman, a worthy companion on this rescue mission. Ellie, in turn, was relieved to be with somebody as levelheaded and strong as Muldoon. His collected approach to the situation was calming her.

All thoughts of being serene flew out of her mind like a flock of frightened birds. A Land Cruiser rested on its side, rain plinking against the mutilated side and darkness carefully eclipsing almost one half of it. The other was nowhere to be found. Without waiting for the Jeep to halt, Ellie jumped out and flicked on her other flashlight.

"Where's the other car?" she asked aloud, casting the beam over every object nearby, hoping to discover a clue. "Alan! ALAN!" Robert followed Ellie, turning on his own device and joining the search.

"Doctor Grant!" He jogged past Ellie, towards the remains of a restroom facility. After noticing the broken cables, Muldoon's fear that the Rex had escaped was proven to be true. It was out there. His disc of yellow light caught a loafer, the leather tightening in the consistent fall of rain. "I think this was Gennaro's."

Ellie, who was bent over a shred of cloth that reminded her of the jacket Gennaro had been wearing earlier, swallowed sickly. "I think this was too." The fabric remnant was drenched in blood, floating in one of the many pools gathered on the pavement. Before she could worry about the status of her last meal though, there came a pained moan from just a few yards away. She sprinted towards it, utilizing her flashlight to identify the figure: Ian. "Oh my God. Ian! Ian!"

The mathematician was sprawled on the asphalt, partially obscured by the remains of a nearby restroom facility that had been obliterated during the incident. His eyeglasses were absent from his visage; his black clothing was soaked with rainwater and a startling amount of blood. Around his left leg was his own belt, cinched together to form an impromptu tourniquet. It was difficult to distinguish whether or not Ian was conscious, but judging by the nerve-jangling groans he was emitting, Ellie had to guess he was alive.

"Remind me… to thank John for a lovely weekend," Ian rasped sarcastically, and Ellie could have kissed him if she hadn't been so concerned about Alan. Muldoon joined her, evaluating their situation with his somewhat grave disposition.

"He put a tourniquet. His back may be broken. Can we chance moving him?"

The muffled roar of the infamous Tyrannosaurus Rex echoed from a short distance, sending chills up the trio's spines. Ian propped himself up on an elbow, crippling Muldoon's theory of his back being injured. "Please chance it."

Ellie slid her arms beneath the man, drawing him close to her chest so she could move him to their Jeep. Blood dribbled past his slipshod dressing, and, judging how his eyes had extreme difficulty following her finger, she determined he had a concussion. "Thank you, my angel," Ian whispered with a trace of smile, reaching up to cup the paleobotanist's chin gingerly.

"You were right all along, Ian," Ellie replied, placing him in the open backseat of the vehicle. She propped his injured leg up with a box of emergency flares, gazing into his dark eyes. He had predicted the downfall of the park; judging by the injuries he had sustained, there was no telling what they were due for next. _My angel. _"You don't have to thank me."

"But I have to, my dear Doctor Sattler, because- -"

"Doctor Sattler! I've found Doctor Grant!" The beam of Muldoon's flashlight spun in dramatic circles, creating a luminescent halo as he made wild gesticulations. Ellie sprinted towards him, the burden on her heart lightening with every step in the direction of her true love. Muldoon was standing on the side of the road not dedicated to the Tyrannosaur's enclosure, which was thick with diverse foliage.

_There goes my chance at love._

"Alan! Alan!" The blonde fell to her knees before him, drawing Alan to her chest and stroking his hair. God, he was alive. Oh God, he was alive. Alan Grant felt her cool hands against his perspiration-soaked skin, her pulse against his neck. Heartbeat. The sign of life. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," the paleontologist admitted, wishing her fingertips would stray away from his bruised shoulder. One rib had to be cracked, but otherwise, his bones had suffered no harm in the accident. Otherwise, Alan had survived. Key word: survived. "I'm glad I let you catch a ride back to the center."

"I shouldn't have left you," Ellie murmured regretfully, fingers knitted with Alan's; she was afraid to release him, lose him again. Somewhere on the edge of her vision field, Ian Malcolm rolled his eyes and threw his head back dramatically, like a child enduring a lengthy car trip. "Did you see what happened? Where are the other cars?"

"The Rex took a hold of our car. Ian got out to distract her, and ended up leading her back to the hut. I got thrown out of the car. I think… I think the Rex got the kid's car. She plunged her head right through the windshield. I'm not sure if the kids are… alive." Ian's dark eyes widened and shock plunged his body, already in tumult, into a dangerous state.

Another roar, threateningly close, intoned, proving to be a source of, ah, inspiration for the weary travelers. Ellie gently pulled Alan to his feet, dragging him towards the Jeep with a grin on her face. She was terrified for the children, of course; but knowing Alan had survived seemed to make everything all right.

Ian glanced down at a puddle nearby, watching the raindrops dissipate, leaving a humid haze in its wake. Rings began to spread through the miniature pond, as if he had dropped a pebble precisely in the center. On the very edge of his perception, a jolting footstep could be heard. Oh, great. "I should be very concerned here. Come on, we've got to get out of here! Now, right now!"

Alan seized Ellie's hand, their eyes meeting for a brief moment that captured the mortal terror racing through the pair's veins. The years devoted to examining and scavenging for skeletons had resulted in this… this nightmare, the avarice concoction of a pack of geneticists and an insane man. Something they loved, they nurtured and coddled like a child they could raise together and demonstrate to the world.

Their child was a few strides behind them, jaws bared in blood-lust.

Muldoon slammed his foot on the gas pedal: the Jeep bulleted forward like a steel ball from a canon, wheels shrieking against the pebbled path. The Tyrannosaurus Rex burst forth from an outgrowth of vegetation, prepared to pursue them for as long as necessary. She was voracious, trusting her hunting instincts: notice, chase, devour.

Ian Malcolm rested in the rear of the vehicle, the arteries in his left leg writhing without being able to elicit the proper amount of blood in response to his life-threatening injury. He was extremely light-headed, giving everything the surreal appearance of an odd dream. Was his daughter really missing? Had he been thrown aside by a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Did Ellie Sattler really lift him up and bestow upon him her heavenly glory? What was real… only his chaos. The truth of his chaos.

The Rex unleashed a eardrum-shattering bellow, her pace impressive, but overwhelmed by the speed of the Jeep. Every step she took, they lurched two more ahead. Muldoon glanced at his side mirrors, where the carnivorous beast seemed closer than she appeared. She attempted to leap over an massive outgrowth of log, which obliterated and sent splinters flying.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Ellie screamed, covering her head with one arm and gripping the head of her seat with the other, struggling to stay upright. Malcolm was, unfortunately, exposed to the Tyrannosaur, and he leaned back, inadvertently jostling the lever controlling the speed. Muldoon pushed him away, concentrating solely on driving, driving away from this goddamn nightmare.

Breathing heavily, Ian repositioned himself, eyes fixed on the expressionless eyes of the monster. "Think they'll have _that _on the tour?"

:::::

_No. Not Lex. Please, God, not Lex._

Misty stared uncomprehendingly at the mauve cap, mind contriving the image of the girl who had been with it mere minutes ago. The fabric, despite being drenched and smeared with grime, was in relatively decent condition. If Lex had been… _found _by the Rex, wouldn't the hat be tattered, or spattered with blood? "Oh. I-I bet she just lost it. She- - I told her to try and open the car door. She may have escaped- -"

"But what if she didn't?" Tim interrupted, his voice shaky and his fingernails digging into the cloth. "How do I tell my parents that Lex is… dead?"

"How about telling them she's not? Look, there's a good chance she's still up there in the road. This is different now. We've gotta trust each other if we want to make it out of here." She conjured up a thin grimace that would have to suffice as a smile, and she extended her hand to him. _Okay, you've said Lex will be all right: now, you have to believe it. This kid is counting on you. Are you going home knowing she's dead? No. Time to be…_

_Brave._

He wanted to trust her. God, he wanted to trust her. Trust was incredibly difficult for him to dispense, considering it meant going past his walls, his guarded walls. Still clutching Lex's hat, Tim gazed at the hand Misty had offered, the thin fingers, the stitches on the palm, the scrapes on the knuckles. Their lives were in those hands now. He knitted his fingers with hers.

_Great! This is step one. Step two is… climbing rope. Gym class flashbacks, here I go. _Misty swallowed firmly as she measured the cable dangling from the edge of the road, her palms growing clammy at the sight. Oh sure, heights were frightening, but that was looking down. This was looking up. Climbing a rope into nowhere. If she were to freeze, where could she seek help? _Agoraphobia. Don't forget, your fear has a name. Being in a situation where help is unavailable. Whatever you do, don't. Have. A. Panic. Attack._

"This is going to sound like the worst idea ever, and, to be honest, it probably is. But, we're going to climb that rope and reach the road to look for Lex." Misty gave the cord a gentle tug to reinforce the statement, and was not surprised when fear filled Tim's eyes. She knew that look: she was probably wearing it herself. "Here: get on my back. I'm used to piggy-back rides."

"I don't suppose you've given a piggy-back ride up a wall," he said dryly, and it was then he realized humor was his aid in life or death situations. Terror could be suppressed, as long as sarcasm took its place. Restraining emotions was something the guidance counselor at school had warned him against, but, well, that was about his parents' divorce. This was a dinosaur park.

"Nope. You've got me. There's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Misty managed a wobbly smile, comforted by the casualty of their conversation. In spite of Lex's unknown sate, Tim was still, well, just being a kid, speaking what was on his mind. "Maybe they'll make an Olympic sport after it. Just… get up on my back, 'kay?"

Misty was tall, like her father; he only reached to the middle of her upper arm. He would never say it aloud, but if he were coerced into being perfectly honest about it, Tim had to admit she had rather large shoulders. They looked sturdy, yeah, much more so than even his own father had. He awkwardly looped one arm around her neck, gritting his teeth. Touching a girl was forbidden and, well, just… _wrong. _

The brunette winced as the boy clasped his hands before her sternum, arms locked securely around her bruised neck. "Okay… yeah, good. J-just get your legs around… " Misty trailed off, biting the inside of her cheek in utter humiliation. A male against her, even a child, was still an alien sensation that sent her nerves into a peculiar frenzy. Ian had made it evident that any boy who dared to touch her would be introduced to the front end of a shotgun.

Tim braced his legs around her waist, clinging to her like a grapevine to a tree trunk. Her mid-back hair, though matted and damp, felt soothingly soft against his cheek. The dispatch of adrenaline had slowed considerably in the past few minutes, after the stress of escaping the Land Cruiser dissipated. In fact, he was quite lethargic, and Misty was soft, suitable enough for a pillow.

_If he falls asleep, my heart will explode. Not even kidding. Well, if it doesn't explode when I try to climb this thing. _Misty grasped the rope with both hands, bracketing herself with the soles of her sneakers. For a moment, she feared her feet would slip, but it passed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Here we go."

The first few feet were easy: even with the excess weight on her back, Misty managed to pull them up, driving herself with adrenaline and any other emotion she could coax out of her soul. Concentrating on the ledge above her was her motivation, like the carrot before the mule, keeping it going.

Then she glanced down.

_Oh my God, no, no, no, we're gonna die! W-wait… breathe in, breathe out, don't freak out. Focus on climbing… yes, climbing. _Misty urged herself to press onwards, but her muscles were drawn so tense, she could not move an inch. "Um… would you mind talking to me? Just talk, talk about normal stuff. Or else we're stuck."

Given these options, Tim wracked his brain and banished dinosaurs to the very back of his mind. "All right. I guess I'd rather talk then be stuck. Um… do you have any brothers or sisters?"

_If we get out of this, I am getting you the biggest goddamn gift basket out there. _Grateful for the distraction, Misty planted her front teeth deep in her lower lip and heaved them up another foot or two. "Um, I actually have a brother and a sister. Roger and Kelly. Both are from different marriages, so, well, I don't know the right term for what they are, but I love 'em."

"Maybe they would be your half brother and half sister," Tim suggested, wondering exactly how many parents Misty actually had. How many parents would he end up having, when his own parents began dating? More siblings? "Misty, what do you when another mom or dad leaves?"

_Oh man, I forgot about that. Divorce- - it connects kids all around the world. _The brunette drove her feet up the wall, her body bent at a ninety degree angle and her ribs complaining the entire time. "Well… the first time, it was really hard. I was only two-years-old. And the mom who was leaving had given birth to my new baby sister, Kelly. She told my dad she hated him and was never coming back. I held onto her leg and begged her not to go."

"That sounds familiar," the boy muttered, picturing Lex as she clung to her father and pleaded for him to stay with them, tears streaming down her cheeks. They had slept in the same bed that night, her arm curled securely around him. Keeping him safe from the battle below them.

Now, could he keep her safe? If she was injured, or worse, could he protect her? He would have to see.

Misty pressed her hands against the concrete edge, pushing them up with what little strength she had left. Groaning softly, the brunette dragged herself over the small parapet and released the metal cable, evading eye contact with the bloody wounds on her palms. "Come on… up ya go." Misty helped Tim off her back and back onto the puddle-riddled street, where, aside from the decimated vehicle belonging to Ian and Alan, it was empty.

"Do you hear that?"

_No, I hear the goddamn ringing in my ears. _Misty strained to listen past the drizzle and distant roars of prehistoric creatures, and it was then she perceived the sound. The soft, yet glorious sound.

The sound of a young girl weeping.


	8. Chapter 8: Imperfections

Chapter 8:

Imperfection

**a/n: **It's-a me! Thanks, as always! By the way, sorry about how stale, mundane, and, well, awkward Misty's relationship with Tim seems at the moment. It's getting there… so, yeah. Enjoy!

"Why didn't you look for my grandkids?"

With a soft moan, Ellie buried her head in her hands as the dispute escalated between John Hammond and Alan Grant. Ian was positioned on the table to her left, his injured leg extended before him, shirt unbuttoned to reveal a muscular chest. Even above the men's steadily rising voices, Ellie could hear him gasping for breath, sounding like a beached whale.

"They'll be at it for a while. Hammond doesn't like to abandon a fight," Robert Muldoon said to Ellie, handing her a bottle of tepid water he had salvaged from their emergency stock. She offered a grateful smile and excepted it, realizing how parched she was. "But, he should abandon this one. We had a perfectly good reason to leave when we did. We were almost killed."

"Well, Hammond won't take that for an answer," Ellie replied darkly, taking another long sip of lukewarm water, relishing the moisture on her tongue. She handed the bottle to Ian, who was unable to wrap his fingers around the neck; they trembled violently. With a piteous sigh, Ellie gently guided it to his mouth and helped him swallow a small amount. He tried to thank her, but his cursed weakness had paralyzed his vocal cords.

"We couldn't help the fact there was a goddamn Tyrannosaurus Rex after us! We would have looked for your kids if we could, but we were in trouble!" Alan exclaimed malevolently, unable to wrap his mind around the fact Hammond was blaming them for not rescuing his grandchildren.

"Oh, yes, you're absolutely right, of course," John said in a somewhat mocking tone, tapping his cane against the floor rhythmically. "Doctor Grant, always right. Of course, of course." He didn't have the energy to continue his tirade: he may have been a stubborn man, but Hammond could admit when he had lost. "I-I'm sorry Doctor Grant. My grandchildren mean a lot to me. Th-they're young, I don't want them to die because of my misgivings."

Alan, who had been preparing a counterattack, was at a lost of words. Okay, so maybe he wasn't "good" with kids, but, hey, he could understand why John Hammond was worried about them. His dinosaur park could potentially kill them: living with that sort of immense guilt had to be crushing. Absolutely crushing. "Well, I can't blame you for, uh, being concerned. I'm sure we'll find them."

"For their sake, I hope you're right."

Ellie, relieved that their uncivil little spat was resolved, turned to Muldoon. "I guess now our problem is turning the power back on." The man eyed the main computer terminal, where John Arnold had been feverishly working ever since the power deactivated. Dennis Nedry was responsible for this, and if Muldoon ever saw him again, oh, his hunting experience was going to come in handy.

"Well Ellie, I think I would rather try to change a light bulb in hell than turn the power back on here. But, we really don't have another option, do we? Come on, we're going to discuss this with Hammond." Muldoon stood, his tone an invitation for Ellie to follow him. The blonde woman turned to Ian, and gingerly traced one finger through his damp hair.

"Don't worry about your daughter. Everything's going to be fine," she said soothingly, as if addressing a frightened child, and her fingertips were like lightning bolts to Ian. After Ellie left the room, Ian placed his own hand over the area where she had gently stroked him.

"You're the one who cared," he spoke into the empty area, voice hoarse, yet philosophic, and Ian grayed out with a bitter grin.

::::::

"It sounds like Lex!"

_Oh my God, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, if I ever make it home, I am going to church everyday! I'll bring you gift baskets and perform good deeds! Yes! Thank you, thank you! _If Misty had the energy or the skill, she would have done a back flip, but considering she had neither, she just grabbed Tim's hand and coughed out a grateful laugh. "Do you see her?"

"It's so dark… and there's so much fog," he noted, unable to discern anything past the impenetrable haze. Without warning, Misty lurched forward, dragging him behind her and, of course, sending razor-sharp bolts of pain up his side. A crimson needle stretched from the base of the wound, but, well, it was becoming quite obvious there was no stopping Misty. She was exhausted, and still, she was willing to hike into the unknown to find Lex. That just made him happy.

"Lex! Lex!" Misty whisper-screamed, a pitch she had, more or less, perfected after years of talking to Kelly through the air vent connecting their bedrooms. They had to stay quiet, or else Gail would hear them. "Hold on, ahem, Lex!"

"I don't think she can hear you," Tim said, searching the horizon for anything. The second Land Cruiser, flipped on its side like a beached whale, was all he could see. "Do you think that maybe she got inside of the other car? To stay out of danger?" Once again, the treading on his sneakers was shed a layer, and the immense friction warmed the soles of his feet. Apparently, adrenaline made her freakishly strong.

"That's a good idea. Hopefully, Lex thought it was too." The brunette swallowed uneasily as a gory image of the young girl's mutilated body rose from the depths of her mind. She strained to perceive the sound of her crying, which Misty had temporarily lost during her brief conversation. "Lex… Lex, can you hear us?"

_Yeah, I can totally do this. Just look inside and see if there's a body, dead or alive. _Misty peered into the gaping hole where a door used to reside, eyes darting around the scope, trying to take everything in at once. "Oh, my God. Oh… God, oh my God. Dear… Lex!"

The blonde girl was on her back in the Land Cruiser, exponentially dazed and a small pool of blood around her head. Misty was unable to discern whether or not Lex was conscious, but, thank you, she was not dead. "Lex, Lex, wake up, okay? It's me, Misty. Please, just wake up for a second, I need to hear you. Okay?"

_"Lex…? Are you there, Lex? I just want to hear you, just a second, okay? Lex?"_

Her name was Alexis Camilla Murphy. And she was not dead.

In the first heart-stopping moments she had laid there, soaked and alone, that had been her only thought. It became a mantra, words to carry her through the immense supernova of pain that had occurred as she dragged herself shamelessly down the road, towards the other vehicle. The Tyrannosaur had left, but he was nearby, and Lex had no intention of being eaten.

There had been many voices, yes, but they were woven through a crimson cloud of agony. Bloody crescents filled her blank vision field, like the hoof beats of some demonic stallion. She recalled the protagonist of a novel she had read last month, who suffered debilitating pain whenever he mentally persuaded someone to do something. Yeah, that sounded familiar.

Lex had been curled in the bottom portion of the car for what felt like years, just hearing the world turn and the screams, the horrible screams. There had been dazzling lights, more shrieks, the ground had shook as the very Earth rebelled against her. Consciousness, unconsciousness, right-in-the-middle-of-nowhere. No matter where she drifted, it was there, just south of the haze.

Oh, she was scared. Terrified. Some things had comforted her, though. Counting. Relying on the concreteness of numbers, always mounting, always moving, always there, no matter where she was. Memories of her family before the bolts became unscrewed. The zoo, her last birthday, hiking through the mountains. Reality and the past blurred considerably, the graphite lines smudging.

She dreamed of her shoulder, mostly. Dreamed of it being set aflame, stabbed by searing knives, pricked mercilessly by venomous stingers. Sometimes, the torture was passed down to her ribs, but it was primarily in her shoulder. God, it hurt. Hurt. Hurt. **HURT.**

But she was not dead.

Misty found her knees dissolving into gelatin, and she reached down into the seemingly endless abyss trapping Lex. She gently lifted her out of the vehicle, shocked by the rip in her violet tank top that revealed a sickening wound. Her shoulder was definitely broken: Misty wasn't exactly sure if that meant the entire… area, or just a bone, but it looked unbelievably painful. "Lex, come on, just wake up, okay? There's no more dinosaurs, we're safe. Look, Tim's here. He's okay. He wants to see you. Please, say something."

Her exposed skin was cold, icy against her arms. Misty held her close, listening to her heartbeat through different regions of her body, throat, chest, wrist, temple. "You're okay, we're all okay, just focus on breathing, all right? I hope you can hear me…" _You won't let go of her until she wakes up. She's counting on you. Just hold her, make her feel safe if she can hear you. _

At the moment, his sister was the most beautiful girl in the whole world. She was glowing, the beads of moisture gliding down her visage glimmering iridescently and her blonde hair fanned across her forehead. How broken she was, how gorgeous. If he were to allow his fingertips to shiver past her arm, he supposed she would feel like the porcelain surface of a china doll. "I think she can hear you… look, her eyes are moving."

Beneath their fragile lids, her cerulean eyes twitched as she slowly began to shed the last vestiges of sleep. Misty's voice, somewhere beneath the pitted, frosted pane of glass, created little cracks through her focus, spider web fragments. She could ascertain inky folds of sky through the splinters, the stars no longer figments of her imagination. Lex ascended through the void, rising up, up, up towards them, breaking the bubble.

"M-Misty?"

"Yeah, hey, it's me," she choked out, gingerly leaning Lex against the obliterated vehicle's side. "Surprise." _Thank you for keeping them alive. Thank you, thank you. I couldn't have done it without your help. I just… I just need them to keep me going, that's all. _"Does anything feel broken? Are you all right?"

"All right" was a loose term, generally defining the state of, well, not being dead. "I-I think… my shoulder… it hurts," Lex uttered, her mind struggling to find and connect the words properly, slower than an ancient modem. She reached past her upper arm, afraid to touch the injured area and discover the grisly scene. Morbid curiosity drove her to gently prod the center of all evil, the blade, and it struck her like lightning from a bottle.

"No, no, don't touch it," Misty stammered quickly, grasping her wrist. "You'll just make it worst, don't touch it." _Come on, you're not a total medical loss. What does a broken shoulder need? _"Here." The brunette shrugged her black, short-sleeved jacket off, wrapping it around the wound tightly to stifle the blood flow and hold the bone in place. "Keep it like this. It should help."

"Thank you," Lex croaked, meeting the older girl's eyes and trying to express her gratitude wordlessly. She then turned her head to Tim, who was studying her with an intense fascination she had never seen before. "I missed you." He preserved that image, her goddess-like profile beaming in a crisp crevice of moonlight, holding onto it for dear life. She looped her good arm around him, pulling her younger brother in and never wanting to leave him.

It may have been unbelievably corny, but as Misty sat on the pavement, watching the siblings reunite, she couldn't have been happier.

::::::

Night pressed on like a black stallion. Two men had died, but at the moment, there was no danger in sight. The dinosaurs roaming free hadn't encountered any human guests since the Tyrannosaur left his road a living hell, and, for a strangely tranquil moment, Jurassic Park was the most gorgeous location in the entire universe. The ocean lulled against the shore like a rhythmic song; stars beamed from the depths of the dark sky. Silence draped the island like a magician's cloak, punctuated only by majestic roars.

It was peaceful. Misty, back pressed against the trunk of a massive oak tree, couldn't help but notice how serene the island was, like the reflective surface of a crystal pond. Crickets hummed in unison, the only sound, aside from the combined efforts of their labored breathing, audible. When she gathered them in a grove of thick trees that would conceal them from the road, she had worried incessantly about being discovered. Now though… peaceful. Irrefutably peaceful.

Misty carefully shifted to her left, hoping not to disturb Tim as he slept soundly against her. He was warm, lighting the hard to reach areas and keeping her on Earth with each stilted breath. She stroked his blondish curls, consoled by their soft nature and the steady pulse of his heartbeat through his skull. Lex was situated on her opposite side, occasionally moaning in her sleep and pawing unconsciously at the space above her shoulder. Misty smiled sadly at the sight, desiring some way to comfort Lex, or at least bandage her wound better than a cotton jacket.

_Well, starting tomorrow, we're starting back to the Visitor's Center. It's going to be a long hike, but I think we can make it. Just need a good night's sleep. And to avoid dinosaurs. Totally normal. _A shiver jolted up her spine, most likely the result of losing her favorite garment. Goosebumps rippled up her exposed flesh, and she clenched her muscles to prevent herself from trembling.

_Worth it, totally worth it. I'm not even that cold. _Misty snuggled deeper between them, leeching their heat. She was alluded by sleep, lethargic enough to want it, but the sour adrenaline in her veins kept her alert. Oh, well. Might as well watch the road. _I wonder if the Velociraptors got out. Boy, if those things are in the park, we are so doomed. We'll be hunted and served like turkeys at a Velociraptor feast…_

_What the hell are you talking about?_

_I-I'm not sure. Wait, am I really talking to myself? In my head? Is this what schizophrenia is like? Or is it some kind of… I don't know, post-traumatic stress syndrome? I can't really tell. I'm sort of numb, and I don't think it's because my body temperature is probably a number found on failing test papers. Numb like… I know this is all happening, but it just doesn't seem to be affecting me. I feel like I'm just watching this, like an out of body experience. Maybe I'm dead. Maybe we're all dead. I wish I knew._

_I think I'll write a book after this. If I'm alive. Not a dinosaur book, not a chaos book, a book about survival. A book about how I would dive headfirst into hell if it meant these kids could live. If I wrote it down, I might be able to understand why I feel this way. Okay. Pact to myself. If I'm alive and I get off this island, I'll write a novel about what it is that makes survival important._

_Okay brain, I'm really tired now. I'm shutting you off so I can sleep and never wake up. All right? Good night._

::::::

"Just… just don't move, this will only hurt for a second."

Ian gritted his teeth as Ellie drove the syringe into a cyan vein twining up his left arm. The entry point flared with searing pain for a brief moment, but, as promised, it dissipated, replaced with a peculiar sensation of… floating. He supposed smoking a drug induced a feeling akin to this. Swallowing bitter saliva, Ian forced a grin that Ellie returned, their eyes meeting to communicate the exhausation neither felt like expressing. "I wonder… if I could take some of that home with me."

"You can have another shot of it in the morning," she said kindly, examining his devastated leg and shuddering internally at the ghastly sight. His slipshod torniquett had not been removed, but Ellie knew it couldn't be comfortable. "I'm just glad I found something to reduce the pain. You'll definitely need some kind of surgery… try not to move, okay?"

"If I could, I'd be halfway to California by now," he replied caustically, wondering how he could be so cold in spite of the perspiration sheening his brow and bare chest. The pain was draining from his abrasion like lukewarm water from a bathtub, although he highly doubted walking on it was a wise idea. Ian sighed, tilting his head to Ellie as if searching for an answer in her eyes. "Do you really think they're all right?"

She had been prepared to convince him they were, but his voice was begging for honesty. Ellie sank to the table Ian was sprawled on, lacing her fingers between his own in a fleeting moment of immense sympathy. "Okay, I'll be honest. I don't know, Ian. Before we found you, we didn't see them anywhere. But… they're smart kids. They know what to do to stay safe. Tomorrow, after we get the power on, we'll start looking, okay?"

"Do you know the story of how Misty was born?" he suddenly asked, finding the topic to be of abrupt, yet urgent, importance. Ellie glanced down at their knitted hands; both of their knuckles were turning snow white as Ian's grip tightened tenfold. She shook her head slowly, hoping the affects of the morphine would eventually leave his mind alone. "Okay. Okay, it's a classic college tragedy. I get a girl in my car when we're only twenty, and nine months later, there's a baby in my arms. Isn't that funny? Yeah, a real cliché story."

Ellie opened her mouth to reply, only to find that she had absolutely no response to his strange little tale. Her fingers were steadily growing warmer as the lack of blood reached them. "Ian… I think you should sleep for a little while. The morphine is… well, it's making you say things." She leaned down and pecked him delicately on the cheek. "Good night, Ian."

"Good night, Doctor Sattler," he said gravely, leaning his head against the wall and sinking into a drug-induced hallucination.

Ellie slunk into the corridor, where Alan was waiting, his hands resting lightly on the wall. "I gave him a shot of morphine to calm him down," she reported, stopping just adjacent to him and leaning her head against his shoulder. "He's really upset about the kids, Misty mostly. He even told me the story of _exactly _how she was born."

"I'm sure it was quite an interesting story," Alan said dryly, cupping Ellie's chin and kissing her softly. She smiled, feeling safe inside of his arm, safe from the terrors roaming around outside the door.

**a/n: **Damn "Gravity Falls" for making me lazy and not finishing this chapter sooner. Oh, well. Kind of filler, because there's more action as the kids start towards the others, but, you know… hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9: Oversights

Chapter 9:

Oversight

**a/n: **Oh, yeah. This story exists. Here you are.

"No, no, no, it's crazy, you're out of your mind."

John Arnold had been operating computers for the better part of his life. In his twenty years invested to the machines, he had never experienced an emergency on this degree. Of course, when he had been hired by InGen, he hadn't been expecting reptilian beasts from another world. Ordinarily, a power failure might result in the loss of important data, but even that could be repaired without ruffling any feathers. This, however, was a delicate balance of life and death. He _had _to get the power back on.

What Hammond was proposing was a bona fide death wish. If Arnold were to disengage every system, rebooting them would be potentially impossible. Then where would they be? Without any lights, any safety. They would be plunged back into the Jurassic era, where darkness, confusion, and dinosaurs ruled. So, John Arnold was not thrilled to be in the computer chair this time.

The thin, dark-skinned man smoked thoughtfully, expelling the smoke as his brow contracted and drew apart in intense concentration. Hammond was leaning against his cane, watching him think; Muldoon, Ellie, and Alan stood to his left, their anxiety palpable. Ian hadn't moved in an hour, thanks to the morphine Ellie had give him. "Wouldn't you be able to turn the systems back on?" she inquired hopefully, fingers still twined with Alan's. She hadn't been able to release him since she found him.

"Theoretically, yes. But, these computers are very touchy. If we shut them off, we may not be able to turn them back on," Arnold explained, stubbing out the remainder of his cigarette. He had presented a true, worthy case, but, of course, John Hammond was adamant. The elderly man limped forward, an expression of disbelief mangling his wrinkled visage.

"People. Are. Dying," he spat, the ferocity in his voice causing John Arnold to exhale suddenly and extinguish the small flame burning in his lighter. "Just try it, Ray." The bespectacled man sighed, lighting his cigarette quickly in order to soothe his frazzled nerves. If Dennis Nedry hadn't been the root of these damn problems, he might have been of some use, but no, the asshole was probably enjoying a beer and hamburger in San Diego.

Robert Muldoon reached into the package of supplies he and Alan had recovered from the laboratory, withdrawing an industrial flashlight. With a nod of confirmation from Hammond, he readied his thumb on the switch. Ellie turned to her finance, sudden, but urgent, passion glimmering in her cerulean eyes. "Alan, if this doesn't work…"

He drew her closer to his chest, gingerly caressing her neck and pressing his lips against her sweet pair. Alan stroked her blonde hair, which had been freed of its ordinary bun. She was the only thing left in his universe. The dedication to dinosaurs, his passion, his _muse, _had been extinguished by the rain against his skin as he lay on the side of a road. Ellie was his foundation now, a single, glistening point to concentrate all of his energy and faith into. God, she was beautiful. A goddess. "It will work, Ellie. And even if it doesn't, we'll be okay."

"I've never seen you this optimistic," she murmured into the hollow of his neck, inhaling his aroma of soil, wet pavement. He chuckled darkly, his fingers desiring to explore every region of her body, to know her from the inside out. If they were to be lost in oblivion until their imminent deaths, Alan wanted to memorize her, to have an image of her always.

Arnold opened up the panel holding three switches, which controlled the main power grids. Smoke curled delicately around his eyes, obscuring his view of the men around him. He disabled the first two, which plunged a vast majority of the Control Room into darkness. "Hold onto your butts," John Arnold sighed, pressing his thumb and forefinger between the lever that could disengage the main electricity. The flashlight expelled a beam of cerulean radiance.

_Whir…_

Alan stopped receiving blood in his left arm as Ellie gripped his hand with astounding might. The bluish glow threw silhouettes against everyone's strained expressions, highlighting the motes of dust floating lazily throughout the scope. After what seemed to be hours, John Arnold flipped the switch again, chewing the end of his cigarette. Darkness reigned. "Um…"

A faint, almost imperceptible, beeping caught his attention, and the technician cast his gaze to the corner of the main computer terminal. He almost jumped for joy at the two words blinking feebly against the cyan background: system online. "See that? It's on!"

"What does that mean?" she implored, finally unraveling herself from Alan and dashing over to John Arnold's side. The dark man typed feverishly, appearing to be locked in his own world where the core was the dim computer screen.

"It means that we can turn the power back on. We'll have to do it manually, but the systems will come back online." Arnold suddenly stood, tossing the smoldering cigarette stub into the wastebasket and grinning thinly. "I'll just have to go to the shed and reengage the power there." Muldoon handed the bulky flashlight to his tech-savvy associate, even though he had doubts about him traveling out to the shed alone.

Just below the level of certain sleep, a drugged Malcolm found his trembling lips articulating soundless words. _"It's the essence… of chaos."_

::::::

Lex awoke to tangerine bursts of daybreak and Misty knelt over a backpack, back arched and eyebrows furrowed. As the last vestiges of sleep dissipated, leaving her somewhat foggy, she wearily pushed herself forward, triggering an onslaught of fresh agony. Damn shoulder! Already, the area was throbbing with warm pain, and she silently thanked the black shirt Misty had offered her to hold the arm in place.

"Hey, Lex. Sorry if I woke you up, I was just looking through our supplies." The contents of her violet pack were strewn across the grass, several of them damaged by rainwater and the impact of landing in the tree. Among the survivors were a few pages of her journal, a half-emptied tube of toothpaste, a pair of socks, and two yellowed books. "We don't have much left. But, hopefully, we'll make it back to the Visitor's Center by the end of the day."

"We're… we're going back through the park?" she inquired tightly, unconsciously reaching for the wound, where the exposed and decimated nerves yowled in response. Never a fan of dinosaurs, especially to the degree of her brother or Misty, Lex now decided she'd rather ram her shoulder against a spiked pillar of concrete. "What if we're attacked again?"

"Hey, don't worry. We'll be really careful and I won't let anything hurt either of you guys. It's not a long hike back to the center." Misty replaced the arbitrary items, slinging the backpack over her own shoulder with a gentle sigh. "Things are dangerous, yeah, but the dinosaurs are all over the park now, and we may not bump into them. Can you trust your ol' Aunt Misty?"

Curses. Lex found herself grinning in spite of their current crisis, and accepted the hand that Misty extended, using her as an anchor as she hauled her battered body to its feet. "Fine. But if another T-Rex tries to eat us, I'm going to cover you in barbeque sauce and talk about how tender you are."

"Yeah, and then I'll tell the T-Rex to have you for dessert, Alexis," she taunted, using her thumb and forefinger as a pair of forceps to extract splinters of bark from her comrade's braid. "Yeesh, maybe sleeping against a tree wasn't the best idea. I think you've got a vine growing out of your head. And there's something moving in your braid." Misty picked a harmless flea out of her golden net, flicking it away with a soft grunt of disgust. "You might want to shower when we get back home."

"Same to you. You don't smell like roses." Lex couldn't suppress a giggle as Misty crunched a leaf against her forehead.

"You're hilarious. Really." Misty, struggling to stop laughing, patted Lex on the head and glanced at the road, ensuring that no dinosaurs were roaming freely. "We've got to get going. We need to shower and eat _something." _She crouched down to a still slumbering Tim, gently shaking his shoulder. "Come on… wake up… we're going exploring, or… yeah. If it makes you feel better. Wakey, wakey, going exploring."

After a few moments of irregular breathing, he batted her hand away, but opened his cocoa eyes anyway. "What time is it?" Tim mumbled, rubbing his eyes lethargically to banish the haze of sleep from his field of vision. He found himself being lifted from his uncomfortable slump against the tree trunk, set on his feet. "Hmm… are we still in Jurassic Park?"

"Good guess, kid. We've gotta get moving, or else we'll be stuck here for awhile. I know this great place, just beyond the forest: it's called the Visitor's Center. There's bound to be somebody down here. Plus, it's not in the middle of fu- - uh, I mean… nowhere." She gripped a low-hanging branch, surveying the ever-twisting pathways that led deeper into the various enclosures and woods of the island. "And… my internal compass is broken. Anybody got an idea where to go?"

"Why don't we just follow the road? It should lead us back to the Visitor's Center, shouldn't it?" Lex suggested, gesturing to the trail that the Land Cruisers had taken through the maze of pens. Misty shot her a grateful grin and nudged their little party forwards, her arms wrapped protectively around the Murphy siblings for a moment. Together, they faced the unknown and the creatures it held.

"Well, this is it."

::::::

Ten minutes later, little progress had been made. As exhaustion, dehydration, and hunger began to set in, their pace started to decline until it was more of a trudge. Misty maintained a vigil on the horizon and land on the edges of her peripheral vision, ensuring no dinosaurs would sneak up on them. She shielded her eyes from the blistering sunlight, searching the scope for blood-lusting carnivores.

"Do you guys hear that?" Lex asked stiffly, grabbing Misty's forearm and gesturing to the battered enclosure. A swarming mass was advancing towards them; the ground vibrated dully, just enough to knock a girl off her feet. Thankfully, the blonde's undamaged hand prevented her from landing flat on her face. "What are they?"

"They're, uh, galla- ga… Gallimimus," Tim announced with a snap, the announcement petrifying Lex with fear. The very last thing she wanted now was more dinosaurs. She drew back slightly, prepared to launch herself off the ground and sprint wildly back into the forest.

"Are those meat-eaters… uh, meat-a-sauruses?" she implored fearfully, edging to the left as the impending stampede narrowed in on the path. Misty realized she could ascertain the basic features of the dinosaurs up front, an image which managed to jolt her from a curious reverie. The brunette clasped a hand over one of either sibling, dragging them towards the side of the road. Pebbles rattled and foliage rained down on them.

"Run, run, run," she uttered through gritted teeth, disregarding the branches that slapped ferociously at her cheeks. The mass pressed onwards behind them, but Misty had the feeling they were currently being hunted by something much larger. "Keep runnin', keep runnin'." They burst into a broad clearing, bordered by scrubby bushes and strange flowers. Misty released their hands, only to find that they had been supporting her; she fell unceremoniously, landing with a sound that caused her spine to tingle. "Ow, ow… I think was my nose. Or my skull. A little help?"

"I think they're gone… but where are we now?" Tim inquired as he struggled to haul the older girl to her feet, trying and ultimately failing. She gripped his forearm, using it as a lever to pull herself back upright, albeit with a few new bruises. "Wait… do you guys hear that? It sounds like- -"

"Water!" Misty and Lex concluded simultaneously, enthusiasm returning to their moods as the resonation of running water interrupted the whine of insects. Before the boy could get a word in edgewise, he was basically dragged forward by the brunette, who, as he figured, accumulated strength when inspired to keep moving forward. "I can't believe it, water! We should be able to follow it back to the Visitor's Center! Thank God for that stampede!"

_Am I actually telling them to thank God? This whole incident has made me strangely religious. We only went church on holidays, mostly because Dad wanted us to impress the minister and convince him that we had a penny to our name. Of course, we showed up with a different Mom every time… but, I guess we were enough. I guess God has done my a few favors: sparing the kids, sending that stampede after us. What did I say earlier? Gift baskets? Ah, I was sleep-drunk by that point._

"I can hear it. Do you think it's a river or something?" Lex inquired, the agony still racing up her decimated shoulder temporarily negating as the eagerness about discovering a path out of danger flared.

"I think so, we passed one earlier on the trip. Man, if it's a river, we are saved." Damp tresses bouncing as her sprightly pace became a triumphant run, Misty laced fingers with the siblings, the trio braving an onslaught of flesh-hungry branches and wide leaves. _I just got bitch-slapped by an oak tree, and I don't care. We're gonna get out of here, we're gonna get out of here, we're gonna- -_

_NO. NO NO NO NO._

Misty sensed Lex shudder and edge behind her; it took physical force to restrain a too-curious Tim. Crouched by the water's edge, in his quivering glory, was the Tyrannosaurus Rex. The massive beast, composed of great slabs of muscles, was drawn into a comical position, maw slightly agape. The odor of blood was thick and metallic, emitted from the half-eaten carcass on the Rex's left. Her scales flashed dully in the morning sun; the football-sized teeth that had possibly murdered her father glinted under the shadow of its thick tongue.

_Oh, man. Black spots. Going down. _Swaying, she struggled to blink away the chilly clutch of shock and force the bile back down her throat. Misty quickly scanned the riverbanks, noticing there was an abandoned canoe staked loosely to the rough, but brief, outcropping over the water. _I wonder who was supposed to store it. I wonder if they're still alive._ If they could slip past the napping Rex, they could paddle like hell out of reach.

"Guys," she rasped between clenched teeth, "go to the canoe. If you make a sound, I will kill you. Go. _Now." _Tim, eyes the size of grapefruits, slowly shuffled into action, his footsteps light and timid against the soft scores of lichen and grass. One fraction of sight invested into him, Misty tiptoed forward, her heart thudding ridiculously loudly in the confines of her chest. The colossal beast slumbered soundly; she was almost surreal when she was immobile, like a model in a museum.

Once she was no more than three yards away from the slim boat, Misty cast a glance over her shoulder. Lex remained rooted to the spot, her expression one of mortal terror and her complexion chillingly wan under the hot slashes of midmorning sun. _"Come on,"_ the brunette mouthed firmly, her knees knocking together clumsily as jolts of fear crawled down her spine. The odor of blood was overwhelming.

_"Can't move," _was her desperate response, and Misty had the urge to scream. Trembling, she advanced towards the frightened young girl, taking care not to even exhale noisily. _Of course, of course, you have to put a goddamn T-Rex right by the canoe. This isn't a game, this is life, our lives, can't you cut us a break, just once? This monster already tore us apart, maybe even my dad, and he has to show up now. Thanks, yeah, thanks a lot. _

Misty laced her fingers with Lex's, the hard stone of fury in her chest softening at the sight of the tears coursing down her cheeks. _"Shh…" _They started back across the clearing, listening raptly to the Rex's breathing pattern. Rank plumes of air wafted from her nostrils. Blood slicked the ground in certain areas. The atmosphere quivered with steamy tension.

Fumbling with the straps on his lifejacket, Tim silently urged the girls to increase their pace. Every fragment of data he had ever read about the Tyrannosaur surfaced in his mind. _…greatest hunter in the world… ruthless carnivore… shakes prey first to snap the neck and then enjoys the kill… _He felt a burst of sympathy for Lex, though: she had never really enjoyed dinosaurs and now, she had to cross another living one.

Accepting the orange lifejacket, Misty shrugged hers on and handed the third to Lex. Together, they boarded the canoe. The brunette leaned over to untie the tether, struggling for a moment until she managed to shove them into open water. She quickly gained control of the unwieldy paddles, propelling them down the river, away from danger, away from danger…

The tip of the oar splashed violently, disrupting the surface.

_Oh, God._

An expressionless eye opened, squinting lividly against the harsh sunlight. Muscles rippled beneath miles of scales, levering the vast creature back up onto its coiled haunches. A choked sound of terror escaped Misty's throat, painful to make and painful to hear. She had the impression of her backpack floating along the vein of water, along with her bloodied remains.

"Misty." The word was elicited as a horrible moan, illustrating the heavy terribleness of their current crisis. She swallowed, barely able to drive them forward her arms quaked so violently.

"Get to the floor of the boat. You speak, _I will throw you off." _Severity was her first option when the situation demanded it. The Murphy siblings obliged, crawling together under one of the two benches on the canoe and gazing up at Misty with wide, frenetic eyes. The girl latched her front teeth onto her lower lip, pretending she was deaf to the snorts of the Rex as it approached the banks for a drink. The beast was only a few yards short of their pitiful excuse for a boat.

_You can't see me, you can't see me, we don't make a sound, it won't see us. The Tyrannosaurus Rex has limited visual skills, but an impressive sense of smell and hearing. Pretend you're invisible… _With a vociferous grunt, she lowered herself into the crystalline depths. The brunette literally sensed her heart shudder and cease beating for a brief instant; as grateful as she would be if she could seek an escape from their dilemma, a coronary was not the way to go. Lex regarded her from the wooden slats with a drawn mouth, throat convulsing.

"Shh…" Misty hissed, wondering what there was left to do. All the pressures of the world were on her shoulder, reminding her of the statue outside her town's public library. It had been sculpted to the resemble the likeness of a god cursed to carry the entire Earth on his back. _We've got a lot in common, don't we? Try three lives and a dinosaur. _The Rex waded forward, carrying the canoe out a few more feet.

Then, she lunged.

Misty turned so swiftly, a bolt of agony sliced through her neck. The Tyrannosaur was grinning at her, revealing a bottomless abyss lined with deadly needles. A strangled scream burst from her lips, and suddenly, the paddle broke the surface, jabbing the tip into her crimson eye. It bellowed horribly, the sound frightening her eardrums into hiding; the world buzzed with hesitant static.

Despite her newfound injury, the Rex wasn't willing to relinquish her hold on her illusive prey. Her impressive jaws shivered past Tim's shoe; he screamed and kicked spasmodically at her snout, losing said item in the process. Misty instinctively covered his head with an arm, the other operating the cumbersome oar in the futile endeavor of striking the beast. As she defended her party, Misty failed to perceive the resonation of rushing water. The river tapered off into a steep ledge, leading to a score of stones.

Lex, cheeks damp with tears, realized this would be the end of her life. If someone had informed her last week she would be slaughtered under the force of a prehistoric monster, she would have laughed hysterically at the mere suggestion. Now, it was _very _real and _very _scary. The paddle's flat end whipped through the air aimlessly.

Then, nothing quite mattered anymore. Gravity belied them, refusing to support the boat's stern and releasing it without a consideration paid to the inhabitant's safety. Misty watched, strangely pacified, as the earth became the heavens, as up became down, as danger became freedom. _Who puts a fucking waterfall at the end of a river? _Mad laughter burbled from her mouth.

_And all the doctor's horses and the doctor's men couldn't put Misty back together again._


	10. IMPORTANT UPDATE!

Hey, you guys!

As of now, "Stowaway" is no longer in progress. It is currently being rewritten under the title "Out of the Mist" and the first chapter has already been published. Fans of this story might want to check it out, considering it has much cleaner writing and pacing. I thought "Stowaway" had interesting things going on for it, but its writing is awkward and clunky, and its direction is flawed, so I've decided it deserves another shot.

I'll leave it up to you guys to decide whether or not "Stowaway" will be permanently deleted. I'm sorry if you enjoyed this story, but I did not and I want to see it get the proper writing and storyline it deserves. Don't worry, there will be plenty of Murphy sibling coddling in the new one!


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